DailyDirt: Flying Through Space With The Greatest Of Ease
Space travel isn't exactly a routine thing just yet. In the 70s, some people thought we'd have shuttles going up to space on a regular schedule, but that didn't exactly happen. Rockets haven't gotten all that much cheaper or more reliable, but presumably they will someday if we continue to build them and improve upon them. Or maybe we'll figure out a completely different way to escape Earth's gravity with a space elevator or rail-gun system to launch vehicles at extremely high speeds. Check out a few of the links below if you think human space exploration isn't a complete waste of time.
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- Thoth Technology has been granted a patent for an inflatable "space elevator" that's (only) 12 miles tall. Disregarding the fact that this design wouldn't actually reach space, it still seems pretty impractical barring an amazing advance in materials that allows such a tall structure to withstand all the forces it would need to in order to remain standing, much less support cargo and launch vehicles. However, this isn't actually the first patent on a space elevator, and everyone should know by now that patents don't actually need to correspond to actual functioning products. [url]
- If you haven't been following the progress of space travel, this WaitButWhy article might be a good starting point. It's a long, but good, read -- and outlines why/how Elon Musk's goal of creating a Mars colony is a good idea. [url]
- While Elon Musk might sound credible and non-crazy for talking about a mission to Mars, the CEO of Mars One doesn't seem to be getting much benefit of the doubt when he says his company's plan to go to Mars is "feasible" still. Bas Lansdorp's company has identified lots of space fans literally willing to die to go to Mars, but the time table and plans behind that project make Mars One sound more and more like a outright suicide mission if it even gets off the ground. [url]
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