Space Elevators & Orbital Tethers

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

*****READ BEFORE COMMENTING***** To save some time, with so many new viewers, a quick FAQ for this episode: 1: It is speech impediment not an accent, that's what Elmer Fudd was saying 40 seconds into the episode, and I have heard every joke about it many times :) 2. All music used in all episode is listed in order at the end of each episode. 3. Wait till the end of the video to make comments, many things are answered and much embarrassment is saved that way. 4. Many of the more math and engineering intense bits were intentionally bypassed, see the paper by Aravind in the video description first. 5. Read through the comments, many questions are already covered and after answering the same thing 3 or 4 times it gets a bit tiring. 6. I'm not sure why, but the episode has attracted a lot of Electric Universe & Flat Earth proponents, please just leave them be, don't argue with them, or anyone mocking the impediment, I've got thick skin.

[@bengie_g886]

Isaac Arthur like the accent! I kind of have the same

[@DisclosureExtremist]

You explain stuff excellent. Couldn't it be a way to collect space derbies ?

[@braintumor943]

after the 3rd video , you dont notice the speech thing

[@Exascale]

Hi Isacc, My concern that I was wanting you to adress is how space junk would be dealt with. I can imagine a single piece of space junk damaging or destroying one of these tethers.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

We'll cover it in the near future, not sure which episode yet.

[@tarinai344]

"It's the the risk of homicidal insanity from sharing the trip with others for hours while listening to elevator music." is worth my LIKE for the video already.

[@Harrysreptarium]

what about airplanes? people don't go insane in airplanes

[@tarinai344]

@@Harrysreptarium Dude.. its a joke..

[@markmcd2780]

@@Harrysreptarium - Some do... or at least some of the ones I've been near on a plane are clearly not sane by the time you're at cruising altitude. :D

[@brownro214]

More like days or weeks. If the elevator travels at 100 kph it would take 350 hours to reach the orbital platform.

[@clockwinder1149]

Who is this dude? Other than a genius? Like, what planet and species? He's too smart and interesting and funny and real to be a human. I'm a little suspicious, over here. Hmm. Maybe he's a "Covert Alien"? Jk but on the real, Isaac Arthur you are a scholar and a gentleman, sir. Thank you. Your vids are a gift to humanity. AMAZING.

[@chrisgaming9567]

If the elevator is shut down for maintenance, will we have to use stairs?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Stairs aren't handicap accessible... we use a giant ramp instead. Though its more of a giant cannon.

[@crazyahhkmed]

Chris Gaming you could just scale/climb it from the outside.

[@Ruben-zd8hj]

Yeah, we kinda just blast people into space and hope for the best

[@ph11p3540]

Don't mind if I puke over the side of the stairs every 20 floors. All that climbing is very hard on my lungs.

[@ar-gaming9014]

pady No one asked your opinion No one gives a fuck about your opinion

[@michaelggriffiths]

This chap makes the best videos on KZbin. Here in the uk we are forced to pay for a BBC TV license, they say its so that they can produce 'quality programming' but these videos prove that quality programming does not need a massive budget..

[@georgeknowles8762]

What has this got do with the BBC?

[@cankhovich1796]

-$

[@earlnuclear]

Just don't pay the license my man. Not like you'll actually miss anything from bbc anyway.

[@ronnetgrazer362]

Not paying the license will actually land you in jail where I live. Germany, land of the free! And the way they're pissing away cash on content that's utterly useless. Or even worse, having to pay for your own state propaganda brain wash cycles.

[@quegold5740]

Paying for a BBC TV license, is another way for the British Government to: A. Make crap loads of money at your expense and : B. To not have to spend, the crap loads of the money that they ripped off you in the 1st place, by not producing these shows themselves.

[@danopticon]

I grew up completely trilingual, but with a speech impediment that only showed up in one of the languages I spoke (Spanish, the impediment is ankyloglossia, or being "tongue-tied," and pre-surgery I could not roll my Rs at all; today I can sorta do so with difficulty), and as a consequence I tried at all costs to avoid speaking Spanish because of the unending taunting and bullying I received - not just from other kids, from adults, too … teachers, even! I wish I'd been brave like you, even today I feel myself blush and stammer as the blood starts pounding in my ears any time I speak Spanish, while you just plow ahead with all the confidence (and intelligence - I love your content!) in the world: after the first minute, I no longer even noticed the speech anomaly! I really admire your panache, I know this doesn't address the point of your video, but you must be an inspiration for kids who, like I once did, struggle with self-esteem over an affliction that some people use as license for mockery and cruelty. Kudos to you, you really made my night. 🙂

[@PharaohFluidity]

The solution is actually pretty simple, but we need to combine carbon nanotube technology with the latest in biological gene splicing techniques to create giant 100ft spiders that use nano-webbing. I don't see any issues.

[@hllwn123]

AHAHAHAH genious

[@herauthon]

sure - and the resources are sucked from the solarwind... it is as thin as the rays..

[@zeffur7]

I knew spider man had a better purpose than fighting crime!

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

You are simply talking about the material to build it but what about the actual elevator? How fast does it need to travel to get to the top without it being a ridiculous time? Anything over 30 mins is too long for most people. And whats gonna happen when that said elevator needs maintenance? Use stairs? 😂

[@Yetipfote]

😱😨

[@tugboatsvideoemporium6476]

Isaac Arthur continually blows my mind! I've never thought of the possibility of being trapped on a space elevator listing to droning house-techno with a bunch of awkward strangers until now.

[@iainclark8695]

house-techno?

[@unvergebeneid]

More like bring-down-the-house techno then, amirite?

[@KH2409]

Penny Lane Raise the roof? . . . 🤔 I suck at these . . .

[@jimbob-jn6jz]

Would need to clean like probably all space junk up befor attempting that!

[@DJDouglasWarden]

I'd like to be the DJ

[@brianarbenz7206]

I learned so much so quickly! I did not know "geostationary" and "geosynchronous" were different things. Thank you for a terrific look at this unheralded technology possibility. The elevator faces many obstacles, foremost among them garnering public support for something that in sound bite fashion sounds clunky or preposterous. That's why your videos are so helpful -- they explain matters to those who wish to understand things in depth.

[@CloudRuleZ_199]

We need people too keep pushing - but keep China out of it - real / democratic government(s) the principle being the USA (primarily because it's the only one with hostile take over protections in the constitution).

[@paulsmith4686]

Didn't watch because of 1 simple but major and insurmountable problem...the earth. You cannot attach anything that will have the drag on the planet and it's surface that the spacetard elevator would generate...it will rip the ground ups and much around it. Best case scenario would be only localized damage but in probability it will cause fractures and hairline fractures stemming from the centerpoint and stretching miles causing the crust much damage, earthquakes and other surface issues. If it rips up/fractures or compromises a volcanic "vein" it could cause more untold and unthought of damage. All this stated is major catastrophic damage to the earth and it does not address the impact it would have on the rest of the planet, its forces (hydro/rotation/rotation speed/weather,etc) and its further impact on life. Seems like a self-defeating effort/suicidal endeavor by a few without much consideration for everything else.

[@fatix85]

Man, I love your shows. Basically, they're more interesting to me than any other channel out there. The amount of hard science you put into your work, the interesting topics and the rate, at which you produce new content - they all are just astounding. Great work!

[@aarondyer.pianist]

I'm new to @IsaacArthur and instantly found his presentation and graphics intriguing. Oh, and I subscribed.

[@yspegel]

Imagine sitting on the toilet in a 4g elevator at it's switch point........

[@cacao1312]

Erik J that would make a good video 🤣

[@agalah408]

I don't think I like the idea of dispensing toilet paper at 4G. Plus, there would be a huge splash when the poo hits the bottom of the bowl.

[@JimKrause1975]

lmfao!

[@mattstorm360]

I assume it would tell you how long till the switch point... it's up to you to figure out if you can go within that time.

[@markmcd2780]

@@agalah408 - But wouldn't that same 4G also prevent the splash from reaching your arse? :D 4G elevator has a MASSIVE (see what I did there? :D) impost in terms of energy. While it might seem that, because you're not carrying the fuel it will be more efficient, we have to remember that fossil fuels are used in normal transport because the fuel density is far greater than can be achieved by (say) electricity. So you've got maybe 100 tonnes of elevator and humans to be lifted, plus the crash couches and life support needed to keep people alive under 4G of acceleration - it may seem an easy thing given crack fighter pilots can hit 9G before they pass out, but most people are neither that fit nor that healthy. Kill a few and the mod will tear the elevator out of the sky. Plus, 4G is not needed - accelerate at 1G for 30 minutes then turnover at mid-point and decelerate would put you there - unfortunately we're then talking 1 hour of fuel needed ( or 1 hour of massive amounts of electricity) to do it. That level of fuel is expensive.

[@tuskact4191]

"Elevator out of order, please use the stairs."

[@thepandadan]

Matewiols

[@evanescentenquirer2684]

Copied

[@agalah408]

'In case of fire, do not use lift'

[@certifiedpossum8655]

@@agalah408 "in case of fire, jump out with a parachute"

[@markmcd2780]

@@certifiedpossum8655 Only if you're still within the first 100 kms and even there you'd need a pressure suit. Above that you're going to need a shield for the burn - aloe vera ain't gonna cut it. :D

[@trentmason009]

Isaak, your unique speech keeps the video spiced up, your knowledge is vast, your style is fun. Anyone mocking you can see YOU laughing all the way to the bank! Congrats on the success.

[@guyatkins9482]

Will this work like Gore's promise the north pole would be melted and arizona under ground by 1988 if everyone didn't concede over all money to the United nations

[@davidjohnson3166]

Isaac - I’m actually proud of you simply forging ahead and talking. I remember that until I was about 9 or 10 I had a tough time with “R’s” as well. Anyway, great job and I learned a bunch. Dave in Phoenix Arizona USA

[@TimothyHuffGuitar]

I had the same speech impediment for the longest time. Years of embarrassing speech trainers....ughhhh! Why can't people accept us for who we are! Keep on doing what you're doing brother! Doing awesome!

[@paulforster6229]

@@TimothyHuffGuitar Unless you can't raise your tongue to the roof of your mouth then it is NOT a speech impediment, or you wouldn't be able to do 't' and 'd' and also difficulty with 'h' and 'j'. The 'l' sounds needs the end of the tongue up against the pallet and 'pointed' so that the vocalised sound goes around it. If you can stick out your tongue as a slender (not flat, like a dog lapping) then you have all the muscular control necessary, you just need to re-learn the reflex. I know, been there, done it. That said, it never really bothered me, I was just determined to get it. Call me an anowak if you wike, but that's how I am.

[@TimothyHuffGuitar]

@@paulforster6229 What made things difficult for me was something to do with voice to ear sounding. I had hearing issues, though I could hear others fine, I had trouble with hearing my own speech. I couldn't properly sound out "r's" and my voice was monotony.

[@nathanjensen3928]

You get a like for that opening joke

[@paulphelps7809]

This highlights the importance of materials engineering. I expect there will be more advances in this as more research is directed towards space objectives.

[@robertkarnick1286]

Just to think that even the *highest* estimate of building one of these is barely a fraction of what the US spends on our military in a year

[@p331083]

Estimate is being very generous.

[@evanescentenquirer2684]

@@p331083 a lot of things, especially innovate and space related ideas, go *very* over budget

[@Warmaster_7]

@Robert Karnick The American Taxpayer spends an *Order of Magnitude* more of Our Tax dollars on Welfare of all kinds than on the Military. The Military actually does a vital service we all benefit from. Unlike most Welfare Recipients. Just sayin.

[@evanescentenquirer2684]

@@Warmaster_7 you're right human beings don't deserve rights

[@Warmaster_7]

@@evanescentenquirer2684 I have no idea what you're talking about. Human beings deserve Rights. I shouldn't have to pay for someone's lifestyle I don't know.

[@KlaustoFausto]

I've only known about this channel for a few days now, but I can already tell that it's the best thing that has ever happened to KZbin! These past days have been a marathon through your videos, good job!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Welcome to the channel Lalo! Though I'm always surprised anyone can binge watch me.

[@chrissteward5435]

I did when I joined the channel a few months ago. I like to listen to your episodes while doing other things. Your posts have become one of the highlights of my week. Thank you for all the hard work.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks Chris, I really appreciate hearing that!

[@MrCHINBAG]

Lalo lol, I concur, my fist time was special too😄

[@ivanmeza7089]

Agreed!

[@BigBadBarker]

@IssacArthur is an absolute gem of a find. A content creator at its finest. Keep up the great work.

[@sanntta82]

Im so glad that I found this chanell. Why there aren't milions of views on every episode?

[@briansmobile1]

Brilliant work and animations. Well done!

[@derekcraig3617]

We currently don't have ANY materials technology that could withstand the weight of a object that extends to space. This work is anything but brilliant

[@stephennetu]

I didn't even notice your impediment! Watched the video without subtitles, enjoyed it thoroughly, and consider myself to be very lucky to have learned so much from you. Thank you so much for your contributions to KZbin and I am *so excited* about the quantum computing episode--that is something I know so very little about, but am always so excited to hear more of!

[@rush1er]

HA HA!! I love how you cut all trolls off at the knees by acknowledging your speech impediment giving them no ammo. Like many have said, this channel might be the best thing to hit YT since... since... um......"Gungham Style"

[@Cydonius1]

I didn't even notice it was an impediment, i was wondering if it was a German accent, my German friends speak English a bit like that. Whatever it is, I can understand everything clearly, great videos

[@Zaire82]

Did you just say "Gungham Style"? What the hell is that? If you meant "Gangnam Style", you must be mad. It was the catchiest and most annoying song around then, nothing makes it good.

[@HuntingTarg]

That would be 'Gangnam Style" said with the aforementioned impediment. +rush1er Well played sir, well played.

[@chefbennyj]

kripke

[@saturn0660]

No CC needed.. I can understand you totally fine my friend.. :-)

[@MrEzilkannan]

saturn0660 me too. Never needed cc.

[@joels7605]

I think everyone understands him just fine. Some people are just jerks and will jump all over anyone that they can for any reason they can think of. There are lots of insecure people that need to build themselves up this way.

[@zeffur7]

I could understand 98% of what he said, but, I definitely had to enable cc to understand everything he said.

[@khhnator]

im not a native speaker and i can understand him clearly

[@movieloverfan18]

I thought that you were quite clear. And that your video was very interesting.

[@407Swashplate]

I enjoy your narrative voice. It sets you apart as unique, and you are very well-spoken. Great video!

[@greg6379]

So cool man. Thanks for this. As a complete layman, I've often wondered and imagined if something like this could be possible, why we haven't done it, what would be the problems and benefits, etc. I really enjoyed your breakdown.

[@leonausten1800]

Isaac Arthur, i Love your Videos from the bottom of my heart ❤️.Could you think about making an Episode about Surgery in Space?

[@omegasrevenge]

*OH GOD NOT THE ELEVATOR MUSIC* *NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO* *STABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTAB*

[@HandlesAreStupid2024]

I see a remake of the movie Devil in the works, but this time it will be longer than Lawrence of Arabia.

[@chippysteve4524]

There wd be a fixed penalty fine of $500 for not taking your anti-fart pill before getting in.

[@NelsonBrown]

Everyone will have headphones on, just like any bus, train, or plane. And just like an airliner, the guy sitting in the window seat will close the window shade so he can see his phone screen.

[@Likexner]

@@chippysteve4524 Rather it would be more efficient to have some kind of advanced ventilating system, and/or suction tubes like you would use when peeing in space today.

[@ogland6482]

it would be funny to have an elevator DJ that only plays jazz and every other song repeats.

[@moneyluser5711]

OMG I almost died laughing when Elmer Fudd appeared in the lower left suggesting CC at the exact moment I was wondering what a Space Elevado was. Your self mocking comic genius alone was worth the sub. And the rest of the video was excellent.

[@Aethgeir]

What about the effects of space debris on the tether at higher altitudes? At geostationary orbit the tether is moving through space at over 11,000 km/h at those speeds even a tiny ice particle is going to impact with enormous force. Carbon nano-tubes may have excellent tensile strength, but would they have comparable strength against such impacts? Also, how are all these cables going to influence satellites and other objects moving much faster at lower orbits? P.S. I just discovered your channel recently. Great work! I'm really enjoying the series.

[@extropiantranshuman]

"While listening to elevator music" then plays epic music

[@markharmon4963]

Yes!

[@jaymevosburgh3660]

Looked to me like that Stormtrooper was also enjoying the music. Probably on his way to class, "Blasters Lv2: Aiming & Target Practice"

[@brianbennett3267]

Good stuff. Great job taking hard to believe and understand engineering concepts into a presentation for the lay person. Kay Rigg, an engineer I worked with at the Army Research Institute for a military contractor in 1992, told me that a vacuum enabled, carbon tube elevator had been designed (not attempted to be built, obviously) about twenty years before I met him. Then 84 years old, he had litterally worked under the most well know engineers and teams of the fifties, sixties, and seventies. He taught chimps how to read and communicate with pictograms, designed mechanical and electronic components of space and military craft, and contributed to sorts of classic "golden age of engineering" accomplishements. By the '80s, he had shifted his engineering foci to computing and networking. Amongst other things he was working on at the time, he was attempting to address data consensus across wide area networks for battlefield data validity, the very problem that Leemon Baird only recently solved with his Hashgraph network consensus protocol. The point of my comment is to illustrate how right you are about the idea being a fairly old one, event the materials early engineers and visionaries imagined would be required and how we are now at the point of being quite able to begin building these solutions.

[@AvailableUsernameTed]

Ha space elevator music .. 'Fly Me To The Moon' 'Space Oddity' 'Spaceship Superstar'

[@SailorBarsoom]

"Somewhere Out There" "Spirit in the Sky" "When You Wish Upon a Star"

[@AvailableUsernameTed]

"Spirit in the Sky". Not a song I would appreciate when trusting my life to an extremely thin carbon thread. :)

[@SailorBarsoom]

OK good point. "Love in an Elevator"

[@AvailableUsernameTed]

Van Halen - 'Jump'

[@stardude692001]

Why not throw in 'Stairway to heaven'?

[@armchair.9664]

Holy crap I'm impressed by your level of research into this. Most people really only get into the proof of concept end of this type of project and demonstrate the mechanical requirements of such a system. However, you brought up practical engineering problems that would have to be solved before anything like this was ever built as well. 10/10 subscribed

[@allgonewrongful]

40 seconds in. After a brief frown, discerning what sounds different, up pops Elmer Fudd. After some laughter I subscribed.

[@michaeldiebold8847]

My son has the same speech pattern. He's also smart as heck

[@joannataylor3089]

Cool

[@josorr]

Heck? Isn't that where you go if you don't believe in Gosh?

[@michaeldiebold8847]

@@josorr indeedily doodily.

[@pohldriver]

My mom had the theory that those with an "Elmer Fud" speech pattern was a result of parents speaking with "baby talk" to their children. Those i knew that had it always had a younger sibling less than five years their junior. It would imply a longer exposure to that pattern. Of course, if non-American parents don't do "baby talk", then that throws that theory out the window with this guy.

[@animationspace8550]

@@michaeldiebold8847 oikly doikly doo neighbor, best to repent to gosh in these tough times

[@stuartellis2]

Fascinating stuff. Always wanted to see someone break down space elevator theory and you’ve certainly done it justice.

[@BartBe]

dude... Just wanted to thank you for bringing dreams back into my life...

[@nikolaythebest]

Happy arthursday everyone! :D

[@CombraStudios]

that is so lovely and loyal

[@pecfree]

avxbynl piss off you pathetic foolio

[@ryanbananahands7545]

Hey Arthur, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your videos and keep doing what you are doing because your videos are awesome :)

[@MJDavis143]

I notice in the comments that anyone who has something stupid to say, mostly, has no reply's. I think this channel is one of the few where the crowd has no time for, or simply can't be bothered with stupid. I like that.

[@falcychead8198]

Thank you for making one of the very few sensible and informative YT videos on this subject.

[@maxlh2012]

Ive been watching your videos for hours now and will continue to do so! Your work is amazing, thank you!

[@capincrnchy]

This is a pretty fascinating documentary. I learned something new today. Thanks for posting this.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks Vincent

[@oscarbayton1118]

binge watching minecraft playthroughs on a sunday night before school was getting boring, this is much more riveting. I love it

[@danielallred780]

My brother had a horrible speach impediment caused by a hearing problem as a toddler. I worked with him almost obsessively and now he's cured. I wouldn't let him say anything without forcing him to speak correctly. Maybe He thought I was a dick at the time, but I'm sure he appreciates it now. Thanks for the video.

[@Albtraum_TDDC]

9:11 I think you forgot to take into account the rotation, as acceleration is 0 at geostationary orbit, not 2.27% of g. It is 2.27% g at that altitude (distance from Earth) maybe, but not if in orbit.

[@BigMilan]

hehehe gotta "wove" a guy with a good sense of humour and isn't insecure.

[@Some_Random_O_O]

is it really that difficult to get rid of a speech impediment?? I had one and got rid of it easily. was I lucky or do I have to take something else into account, i know i had to learn pronunciation in an unorthodox way but maybe that has something to do with it? DISCLAIMER~ I'm not mocking him, i'm just genuinely curious as someone who previously had the same thing.

[@OohzyJohnDow]

ahhh he has a speach impediment.. darn :D ...i am new to his channel and yesterday i asked where he is from cause i am having troubles with his "accent" and not understanding certain words. After watching a couple of videos the problem of not understanding goes away as our brain just compensates for it... but it didnt occur to me that it could be a speach impediment.. Darn.. thats one heck of a impediment lol.. doesnt make me enjoy his videos less though as they are just so interesting.

[@TheSkepticalIdealist]

maybe he weally weally twied

[@Eluzian86]

It can be. I had a mumbling and stuttering problem when I was little. Speech therapists had no success helping me at all. I stayed with my great aunt for a week. During that time, she corrected every single mistake I made. Also, when reading, I had to read the sentence perfectly before I could move onto the next one. From that week I gained the necessary knowledge I needed. I still really have to focus sometimes, even now over 20 years later, in order to be understood, especially when I get nervous, that's when I have the most difficulties.

[@YEAGERMACH100]

We MUST biwd a space ewavator to get away from that wascawy wabbit!

[@qoo5333]

Best part of the week!

[@Edenssunlight]

yes it is!

[@mycinematics8948]

100% agreed. I love listening to this channel as I go to sleep. I always rewatch them afterwards too, that may seem weird but it takes a few attempts for it to sink in haha. (that's totally my problem though, I have a dyslexic brain)

[@TheNewMaxico]

Truly

[@fatetestarossa2774]

indeed Qoo

[@grummelameise]

wouldnt you need giant bases on ground to attach the cables, like for bridges? please explain, i really want to know.

[@terrymadden9407]

Great information. It helped significantly in my research for a novel I'm working on.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I'm very glad to hear that Terry, please make sure to let us know when it gets published!

[@eclectichoosier5474]

Just found this video - thanks for sharing this idea in an interesting and informative manner. It is something I have pondered often, and I have one idea to add: Instead of worrying about taking a cable up to geo-orbit as payload, use the cable itself as a wrapper for the pressurized fuel tanks. After it arrives, the tank is empty, or if not, pump the remaining fuel into the secondary tanks (if you don't have redundancy, you are wrong!) and unwrap the cable, using the tank itself as the spool. You get the main product into orbit, and can carry your station up in segments until it is capable of manufacturing more cable in orbit. By then, you should have enough cables to allow at least small vehicles to carry a practical amount of freight. Finally, graphene conducts electricity. If you play it right, you might even be able to use the cables themselves as the power conduit for the vehicles' motors. (Okay, that was more than one idea. Whatever.)

[@Ari-nw3qy]

Before: Space elevators are the greatest thing ever! After: Sends 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 emails to NASA to start planning the cosntruction of a space elevator immediately.

[@Der_Dekanter]

Have they answered

[@jeffburrell7648]

One major problem I do not see discussed with space elevators is that they pretty much preclude passively orbiting satellites at altitudes below the maximum length of the tether. This will require that either near Earth space be swept clean and kept clean or that orbiting satellites be required to maneuver to avoid the tethers. I know there have been proposals to maneuver the tethers, but, given the sheer number of objects (both useful and junk) currently in orbit, it would require a *lot* of dancing by the tethers and would seem to be impractical.

[@KohuGaly]

Avoiding space-junk is already doable. You only need to notch the cables a few meters when avoiding stuff. It is not that much different from how current satellites avoid collisions. Also, having geosynchronous tether hanging in the sky (allowing you to hang a few tons of equipment on it at arbitrary hight) may render the need for most satellites obsolete.

[@stardude692001]

Cheap transport into orbit might change the entire satellite game. Refueling and repair becomes much more economical as well as cheap disposable satellites.

[@jimbarron9939]

Excellent point. The space junk problem alone pretty much rules out a space elevator. Nevertheless a huge amount of people are going to make a great deal of money working on projects for this thing. Hopefully some of the technology developed will have practical uses elsewhere. Our culture consistently comes up with very half-assed ill thought out "solutions and then spends an astounding amount of effort working on things at best wildly and inherently impractical and at worst with devastating effects. The core problem appears to be putting complete idiots in charge of choosing the projects and directions (nepotism = GWB et al, Trump family, etc) and the people with genuine intelligence and actual ability to do critical thinking stuck trying to rescue projects doomed from the start. When the basic approach is profoundly flawed, even the best minds aren't going to be able to make much of it, The same group of people that have made such a horrendous mess of everything with their idiotic plans are the ones choosing what "solutions" to use for the problems they themselves created. If we cannot make Planet Earth self-sustaining, we cannot possibly live long enough to colonize space. But Trump is shutting down the EPA and denies global warming. The house is on fire but everyone is busy planning the remodeling project.

[@scruffyrex4797]

Jim Barron: Yes, small cables an inch or so wide will fill up space until there's no room left. And shipping lanes will fill the ocean. And you guys can't help but think about trump with every thought. I can tell you are a popsci disciple. I have as much use for you as I do for one of those people who want solar roads. Every sentence you wrote could have a book written about why it's nonsense. In fact, most of these books are written. And if you are worried about shitty politicians and committees continuing to screw everything up, you would be lobbying for a free market. Course, we could restrict carbon emissions and continue the reduction of CO2. Course if CO2 kept dropping at previous rates for another couple million years, plant life would die. As it stands, biomass is growing because we are providing carbon. Most of the planet's carbon has been locked up in limestone. When there's low CO2 plants must respirate much more air to get its CO2, which means it loses much more water through all the additional stomas. More CO2, less water usage, more drought protection, no GMO needed. If humans didn't come around, the planet would be doomed and all life would die. The earth has been in the middle of a great die off. We can either stop it and fulfill our role, or do nothing. Nature isn't as stupid as you think. Life is about balance. We are part of nature, not some magical alien that doesn't belong.

[@barahng]

Jim Barron Obama is the one who defunded NASA broski. And nepotism and graft always exists in government contracting, it doesnt matter which party. Thats just the nature of government contracts. Obama and Clinton did plenty of this too, Solyndra springs to mind. Ive yet to see any contracts handed out in the Trump era that went to companies who couldn't fulfill the contract but merely for the purpose of lining that company's pockets with taxpayer dollars, as was the case with Solyndra.

[@Fortunes_In_Formlas]

Issac we already have found something much stronger than Carbon Nano tubes. Diamond Nano Threads! According to the few papers on the matterial they are 100 times stronger than carbon nano tubes.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

DNT shows a lot of promise but they still haven't made long segments of it yet, CNT is up to a meter last I'd heard, but yes they are a interesting development

[@Fortunes_In_Formlas]

Isaac Arthur is that the reason you didn't touch on them. I was just curious since other channels have before.

[@RonaldMcPaul]

The Emissary of the Sun How are they structurally different?

[@Fortunes_In_Formlas]

They have a tetrahedral core of carbon surrounded by hydrogen. Basically diamond strings only a few atoms thick. The reason they are so cool is that they have a structure we have never seen before.

[@bashkillszombies]

When carbon nano tubes were discovered everyone was screaming that we'll be making space elevators next week. I suspect neither will come to any production level with cost effectiveness for a century at least. So don't hold your breath! Just like spider silk mass produced by genetically enhanced goats, it always falls through. :(

[@xzxfin120965]

Best opening line ever!

[@alsmith20000]

at 13:30 and some other places, you showed a rotating space station that revolved around the tether. This wouldn't work for an object in orbit around the Earth, due to the gyroscopic principle. You could have a rotating object if it rotated in the same plane as the Earth, but then it would be more like a wheel on the side of the cable.

[@davidswift9120]

I just wanted to send along a thanks. I love your vids. This one particularly. I love the detail you go into. Excellent stuff....I'm subscribed! I've just edited this by the way after reading your above comment. Accent/speech impediment? Who honestly cares? What you articulate is abundantly clear, and I for one am most grateful for it.

[@SarabandeGreens]

Your intro jokes are definitely improving ;)

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

:) Though that one was unoriginal, one of my mods from the FB group, Matt, suggested I do an elevator music pun.

[@SarabandeGreens]

Isaac Arthur Ahhh, I must've missed that one, I'm never on FB anymore. Besides, good execution of something not one's own is still worthwhile. Or so I tell myself when playing music I could just listen to a recording of instead.

[@SarabandeGreens]

Isaac Arthur Speaking of which, it helps that your voice ends right on the first beat of the intro music. Gives the whole thing slick panache.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Yeah the timing is tricky especially with the graphics, and I'm still getting used to doing the intro one-liners.

[@pacus123]

Hi Isaac, thanks again for a very informative video. Space elevators have fascinated me since I first heard about them. However I have always been dubious as to how we'd ever build one. You explained a lot of things but I have to take issue with you glossing over production of carbon nanotubes. Despite carbon nanotubes being discovered in the 1950s we can still barely manufacture them a few inches long. There does not appear to be a technique to build them anywhere near as long as we'd need them for making space elevators.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Real efforts to make them longer are still pretty new, but to be honest I don't expect us to ever be able to make a single one even a kilometer long, we'll have to settle for something a bit weaker with all the flaws implied in taking tons of shorter ones and merging them. I hope to be proven wrong.

[@RonaldMcPaul]

For any deed that seems un-doable, we must only take a queue from history: 1.) Manipulate Kennedy/Trump into believing that we're going to look stupid if USSR/China gets the moon-landing/elevator before us. 2.) That scale of rocket/tether is literally unfathomable. 3.) Hire Nazi scientists. 4.) Bathe in governmental funding. 5.) ??????? 6.) Space Elevator

[@fredmoor5099]

Isaac Arthur OK, fact is, if you build one, you build one thousand at the equator and have a completed ring of space industry linked together in a solid outer space equator extention platform. A ring.

[@gg5115]

We have no method of making them longer here, on the surface of the Earth. A manufacturing facility in zero g would be able to pull a lot of tricks that we simply can't do here.

[@nateleslie5402]

like a Saturn ring you can live in

[@marlaslost]

It might become a conductor as it passes through eatths magnet field?

[@mikeharrington878]

There was a satellite tether experiment conducted by NASA. The tether liquefied on one end when the tether length got to about a mile... and this was *horizontal* to the Earth's magnetospheric layers. If that tether had been deployed vertically there's no way it would have reached that mile. So my thinking is--even if they were to be able to create these elevator tethers of a superconductive material that wouldn't melt from the giga-amps of power coming down from the solar wind and outer layers of Earth's shielding electromagnetic double-layer, it would create a new problem of inducing this huge amount of power directly down into the Earth's telluric current layers. This might have the unfortunate effect of creating new 'magnetic poles', disrupting global weather patterns and oceanic currents, and the-Universe-knows-what-else. The real breakthrough is going to be when we realize that what we need is the ability to change the electrical potential of the object is in question, so that it becomes electromagnetically repulsive to the Earth's magnetic field, and then it will be able to just shoot right off the planet. Of course, this will require precision control of the EM potential of the object/vehicle in question. Not an insurmountable problem, but one I'm thinking no one has really looking into yet. The Universe is electrical, and real progress will start to begin when we start tailoring our scientific research into this concept. Peace all.

[@paulforster6229]

Strange as it might seem at first, the conductive-propulsion effect is real, it also allows electrical and therefore kinetic energy to be manipulated by the effect, and that allows changes of orbit without propellants. The details are problematic though. More work is needed on that. And while you're at it check out the 'flux-tube' at Jupiter, work out the electrical/kinetic energy going on with that, its quite something.

[@paulforster6229]

Ah, no. It wont become a conductor as it passes through the Earth's field. It might intrinsically BE a conductor regardless of the Earth's field, and then it would develop a potential voltage difference at various points due to the 'faraday' effect as it passes through the field. It would be possible to make use of this by somehow creating a return path and a current would then flow. just sayin.

[@warren286]

Gross concept error. The orbital elevator cable would be spinning with the Earth and its magnetic field, therefore no relative motion between the two. Therefore no conduction would occur.

[@paulforster6229]

@@warren286 I thought so at first, but check out the faraday disc effect en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homopolar_generator It is a peculiarity that it still works regardless that the 'earth' is rotating or not. It is counter intuitive, but real. even if the magnets are fixed on the disc and rotate with it, the effect remains. And, sorry to nit-pick, but that's 'induction' not conduction.

[@adamanderson3042]

I knew that gravity gets weaker the further away from the mass but I had no idea that it would be 1/3rd of 1G at ONLY 5km. That means we will definitely have skyscrapers where the top of them will have leisure centres with low gravity, potentially a cool entertainment option similar to the vomit comet.

[@tomthumb9839]

Thank you for the professional and informative video. I am a old man and I fear I will not live long enough to see this and other projects come to fruition.

[@Simurgh1000]

Happy Arthursday! This future can't come soon enough haha. Isaac Arthur for president 2020.

[@SailorBarsoom]

I don't know where he stands on health care, immigration, military spending, etc. etc. etc., but I can guess this much: he can be convinced by a reasonable argument, and by facts. If the facts say that _Ideologically Satisfying Plan A_ won't work, then President Arthur wouldn't push it, whether or not it comes from his favorite political party. Whichever party that may be.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I think one President Arthur was enough, anyway nobody wants me writing laws. A few years back when I was working on our County's Charter and got stuck being the one doing all the writing and editing I'd send out versions to steering committee for review and became so convinced they weren't even reading them that I stuck in an article banning witchcraft inside the county. It's an old trick I'd learned from doing reports in the military, add in something nuts to see if anyone catches it... and no one did. I was so sure I'd get back at least one snarky comment that I didn't leave myself a note to remove it and it very nearly ended up on the ballot that way. But the basic working notion is if I ever got stuck in a legislative or executive position we'd end up with a ton of weird laws banning stuff like clowns on Sundays or making the wearing of polyester suits punishable by flogging.

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

Isaac you sound like exactly the person we'd want writing the laws. You only need a handful of these to get through and all of a sudden people would actually start paying attention. :)

[@diefenbaker7853]

Isaac While listening to explanations of things that I do not have prior knowlege of, sometimes the narrators voice, tone, presentation or other factors make me loose interest in a subject that I would like to know more about. I didn't pay attention really and at first I assumed you had an accent that I was not familiar with. Then I noticed certain words and how you pronounced them, I then realized the speech impediment. As I continued to watch the video and listen I found your voice incredible in its ability to keep me on point listening to my education of this subject. I thoroughly enjoyed the materials and your knowledge of the material as well as your rhythmic speech. I liked this video and subscribed as I am curious and excited to hear and learn more. Bravo. I will definitely keep watching. Great life to you Dief

[@lexbenjamin]

Hexagonal Carbon Nanotubes. We work out the kinks in carbon nanotube production and build the space elevators out of that. Stronger than graphene and extremely lightweight. Hexagons are very strong under compression as well.

[@lexbenjamin]

I now see that someone has already mentioned that.

[@ObliviouslyAware]

Lex Benjamin We should also consider maybe embedding metal ions inside the Carbon nano tubes as well to electro magnetically couple the tether for furtherstrength as the tether will also undoubtedly induce a large electric charge from traveling through the various levels of the atmosphere and magnetic field, use it to it's advantage.

[@lexbenjamin]

Obliviously Aware Would the metal ions be used to generate electricity, to dissipate the electromagnetic charge, or both?

[@ObliviouslyAware]

Lex Benjamin​ With nano manufacturing we could use it to simultaneously dissipate, distribute, and integrate capacitance into the cable at the molecular level, adding further strength if done right. Remember opposite charges attract, use it in some manner as electro magnetism is the strongest of forces and distribution of tension could be accomplished in more than one way. Because of the way the cables will be used, they will create electrical energy, regardless of your intent to do so.

[@HuntingTarg]

+Lex Benjamin +Obliviously Aware That's a bloody crazy and brilliant idea. That would mean it is, theoretically, possible to make a superstrong superlong semiconductor; it could not only be structural, but be a power-and-data umbilical cord for the terminus station.

[@johnliungman1333]

There is a piece missing in the physics, if I am not mistaken. The orbital velocity at geostationary is much higher than at sea level. By a factor of about 7. This means you need to add a lot of lateral velocity to the elevator train as it moves up. Since the cable probably is likely to be flexible, it cannot be used to generate the force (as could a tower). So you would need rockets to add lateral velocity, reducing a lot of the economic gain, and adding a need to carry fuel. Equally, trains going down would need to brake. These forces could balance out, if trains were at the same position (impossible) or running like a conveyor (impractical).

[@paulforster6229]

nah, the payloads would be so tiny compared to the mass of the cable, that vector forces caused by any deflection during transit would cancel out. but you do have a point in theory, if not in practice. there is a lot more to the pure physics but most of it would have no practical impact whatsoever. I mean, in theory, if you keep sending payloads up the tether and releasing them you WILL slow the Earth a tiny amount with each load, but compared to the rotational mass of the Earth it isn't going to be anything you'll notice, I doubt you could even measure it in any practical sense. and if equal or more mass comes down then speed up rotation would happen, not that you'd notice that either.

[@44R0Ndin]

One other point of note about space elevators: Sometimes you don't need a massive payload capacity, it depends on your application. For instance, power generation. I know that a space elevator can't be used to generate any power from the magnetic field of the earth (aside from motion of the magnetic field lines of the earth influenced by pressure from the solar wind), but you can still have the (massive) geostationary anchor station be much more than just a spaceport. IMO the ideal primary purpose of such an anchor station is to be the host of a very sizable solar power generation station. The advantage is that you don't need a new launch system to haul all the materials needed to construct the station from the surface. The space elevator can do that for you and then later transition to offering its services to other things that wish to enter orbit of Earth from the surface. While the usual method described for sending power from such an installation back to the surface is a microwave beam with the frequency tuned to around the middle of the "hydrogen gap" in the atmosphere's absorption spectrum for maximum efficiency, properly treated carbon nanotube seems to offer the potential to be an incredibly efficient conductor of electricity, if not a room temperature superconductor (depending on which scientific papers you believe). A 36k kilometer, superconducting, super strong cable is the ideal "extension cord" to connect orbital power generation to surface power consumers, tho it would obviously need some measure of energy storage likely on both ends, in order to accommodate fluctuations in the electrical potential of the cable itself. Another advantage is that the current carrying strands of the tether could be tapped into by the vehicles moving from the surface to geostationary orbit or vice versa. Another application is to use some method to haul a large asteroid full of materials of interest to Geostationary orbit, and use that as both the anchor of a space elevator and a source of materials for constructing the tether and the anchor station itself, this removes the need to launch the first strand of the tether via conventional means, instead all you need to launch is a facility capable of making said tether, mining the material from the asteroid, and towing the asteroid into position (these don't have to be all in one launch, further reducing demands on the launch system's maximum capacity).

[@profmtrfkrz6917]

We could make space elevator not today but in 100-200 years from now, along with tension in every nations in this earth. My Idea on Space Elevator -The Space Elevator could also harness solar energy thus no longer using the fossil fuels. -Can be use to transport to other side of Earth and to Space. -Could be also used as a settlement for Humans.

[@matthewclarke5220]

better to build a mars base but we need a moon base first sooo

[@michaelhowell8489]

Thank you Dr. Arthur C. Clark

[@tommymeeks9192]

So I found this video off of a link in a vsauce video and I just checked the home page of this channel and boy Think I found my dream youtuber

[@UncleEarl97]

I just came across this and watched it over two evenings, outstanding! Do unto others as we would like them to treat us. People who belittle others over something that cannot be changed are just very small minded people. We all have quirks of character, personality, looks, mannerisms, etc. I had no trouble understanding you. All your information and explanations were very interesting. I remember attending a Sci-Fi writer's convention panel discussing Space Elevators several years ago. Really intriguing possibilities! One worry I would have is a (hopefully) unintentional cable or ribbon strike by an airplane, but I imagine there would be published Air Traffic Control no fly zones around these locations. I LIKED this and will watch more of your videos. Thank you Issac!

[@florencepierce1864]

Isaac; I actually found your measured speech quite soothing and (although I had to back up frequently to follow all of the concepts & take in all of the information!) I found this super-interesting. I've only just discovered Upward Bound, but I've been fascinated with the Space Elevator concept for several years. With expanding populations & decreasing areas of manufacturing, we need to be much more forward-thinking in terms of not only Space Exploration, but Space *Building* & you really manage to make vast concepts very down to earth. Thank you so much for a great video; I look forward to the others in your Upward Bound Series & will look out for other videos by you.

[@johnkejr1382]

@13:22 wouldn't an artificial-spin gravity space station not be able to keep its axis perpendicular to the space elevator column due to gyroscopic forces attempting to keep the rotating station in one plane while earth's rotation would always be shifting its axis?

[@jebes909090]

You could add a second counter rotating section the the station

[@paulforster6229]

Nope, wont work. And. jebes909090, Nope, that wont work either, gyroscopic forces/effect do NOT work that way. Try it with a model then get back to the idea.

[@Fr33man]

I wouldn't take it as I dont see how they are going to resolve the space debris issue.

[@randomnickify]

Japan already has a viable solution - satellite with solar cell powered laser gun zapping all trash around, laser boiling material will create small thrust that will eventually (after days or months) deorbit everything unnecessary - from lost screws to the entire dead satellites. The only real problem with this idea is a fact that it means putting a Weapon in space and so far it is forbidden by international treaties. But if it will become really necessary Im sure big guys will agree to do that.

[@data1.078]

@@randomnickify That is indeed a viable solution. Problem is, humanity can be quite immature from time to time. But maybe the UN can make an exception for utilitarian lasers if they are commissioned and maintained by the UN itself or direct contractor and by consensus of all treaty signers.

[@khhnator]

to be fair... a laser like that wouldn't qualify as a Orbital Death Ray, it neither needs to be THAT powerful, just enough to evaporate hand sized chunk of steel. or have that much of a range. to hit us down here on earth it would still need to go thru atmosphere and there is nothing that hate lasers more than atmosphere

[@macko-dad]

What about the Coriolis force? Since the lower regions of the cable are moving slower than the higher ones, a rising car will lag behind the orbiting anchor, causing a drag (westward) on the cable that could destabilize the entire assembly. Or because the mass of the complete elevator is much greater than the mass of the load, and the cable over all its length is tight, Coriolis effect is nearly negligible ?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It is non-negligible but manageable, it was one of those 'other forces' I skimmed over with a bit of a hand wave, I didn't want to go into it with the video already at 30+ minutes.

[@macko-dad]

OK its understandable. And it is good to know that you considered it. Great work by the way :)

[@Molb0rg]

you can launch payload down (one goes up one goes down) so the way you will average the effect to 0 basically, just rough suggestion

[@jacobdot456]

Isaac Arthur Do you decide not to make videos much longer than 30 minutes because it takes to much time, or because you think people wouldn't be interested? Love the videos btw.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Time is a big factor, all factors in play, from script to compiling the video, every minute of it probably takes about an hour to make. Its not really linear though, 40 minute episodes don't take twice as long as 20 minutes ones usually, but close.

[@agalah408]

My favorite space elevator story is 'Web between worlds' by Charles Sheffield, circa 1979. This was a bold story about a cable of spun silicon, extruded in orbit from asteroid materials. They created a long, lazy spiral cable in space with a big flange at one end and a giant catchers mitt at the other. When complete, it was slowly unwound, the high end caught a prepared asteroid for 'ballast' while at the low end the flange swept down through the atmosphere to drop into a deep prepared hole, immediately anchored by falling rock via explosive charges. A technical novel with many fresh ideas. Another interesting concept from that book was the process of heating up asteroids (by induction) until they were molten, then spin them so that the useful heavy metals joined up and migrated to the outside, while the lighter crap migrated to the centre. A ceramic proboscis could then suck the appropriate metals out at its axis by going into different depths, like a distillation plant. A good future engineering story.

[@44R0Ndin]

There are a few types of planets where space elevators don't make as much sense, and some where they're just impractical no matter how strong your tether material is. Slow-spinning planets like Venus render the concept of a space elevator largely impossible, because the length of the tether becomes of a similar order of magnitude to the radius of the orbit. Fully tidally locked planets and/or moons require special accomodations and you can't put the "distant anchor" station where it would normally go. But I'll get into that. The problem with tidally locked bodies is that you don't HAVE a "geostationary" orbit that is still gravitationally bound to just the single body. This does not mean you can't use a space elevator at all, it just means you need a new place to put the distant "anchor" station. Basically, instead of going up to geostationary, it will have to go up to a Lagrangian point instead. This generally means you need a longer tether, but the good news is that Lagrangian points stay mostly stationary relative to the 2-body system they are defined for, regardless of the on-axis rotation of either body. And as mentioned in this episode, gravity forces fall off with distance. This means that large sections of the middle of such a space elevator tether on a tidally locked body will not be contributing much to the total forces at the most highly stressed location. Strangely it seems that using a Lagrangian point for the anchor requires a tidally-locked body, and using geostationary orbit requires a relatively rapidly spinning body like Earth or Mars. Things get really strange for slow-spinning planets like Venus, because it is NOT tidally locked, but it is really not spinning very much either. For Venus, where we would like to harvest gases from if we wish to terraform it, a space elevator is unfortunately largely impossible, because the "geostationary" orbit is impractically large (in the same order of magnitude of lengths as the radius of the orbit itself). This largely disqualifies slow-spinning bodies from use of space elevators.

[@Ryukachoo]

I have to say this new intro music is fucking LIT.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Sergey Cheremisinov? Yeah he does some great stuff, I used this piece once in rotating habitats way back and was rewatching that and a couple others in prep to make the series, and it really stuck out to me as perfect intro music. freemusicarchive.org/music/Sergey_Cheremisinov/

[@Ryukachoo]

Isaac Arthur; ah, for some reason I assumed it was made by a fan and you found a good place to put it

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

No not this one, one of the ones in the middle is, so is the intro for the alien civs series.

[@RonaldMcPaul]

Steal my Sunshine?

[@rodrigoamor]

Very nice episode, been waiting for someone to cover this in detail. Any plans on doing an episode related to the Hyperloop for in Earth travel or possibly all the possible uses that Graphene can have? Those 2 are some of the biggest upcoming technologies I am looking forward to.

[@anon746912]

+1 for hyperloop. I'm tired of seeing one side of the media make bold claims about it that have yet to be proven, while on the other side we have youtubers like thunderfoot loudly proclaiming "hyperloop crashes and BURNS!". Would be great to have Isaac Arthur bring a properly informed, objective opinion on it.

[@OMGWERDOOMED]

What happens when the tether becomes a lightning rod conducting charge from ionosphere to ground?

[@garyweber4333]

free energy

[@kathrynck]

oh, and the static charge build up too? "free energy" could be fun, as long as it's not TOO free. Enough current could turn matter into plasma, and then it's entirely too "free". The hypersonic expansion capacity of plasma could make for quite a shockwave/blast radius. Like thunder, but "Big"

[@princeofparmma]

@@kathrynck Now how to weaponize this, for a boardgame...

[@surearrow]

>> Thank you for using your real voice instead of the typical "robot" voice others use! It very much appreciated.

[@joejohns3543]

I've seen this video so many times and I keep watching whenever it comes up in recommended.

[@user-uy1rg8td1v]

Isaac, can I ask what do you do for a living? You seem so smart and well educated and I'm just curious what field you ended up in. Also have you seen The Expanse? It's really good and they try to use real science most of the time. Anyway thanks for the videos.

[@stepheningermany]

I thought he a physicist?

[@ixian_technocrat]

He once said he's a public office clerk.

[@identity97]

I've seen this question before. I'm thinking if Wikipedia can host a page on Arthur Isaac, a Welsh amateur football (i.e. soccer) inside forward who played for Brentford in 1923, then someone with over 44K followers and 4M somethings (views?) should qualify for a page.

[@infernaldragon5210]

He said before he was in the Army and stationed in Ohio. Right now he is a politician of some sort IIRC, which could be just a public office clerk like Ixian Technocrat said.

[@Cambria399]

there has never been a public office clerk who did a lick of science that was of any importance. ...Come again? He was? He did? and the photoelectric effect you say? oh, Nevermind.

[@busynessy798]

Could "floating stations" (floating like weather balloon) be used as access points or intermediate points to a space elevator, instead of anchoring tethers to ground level ?

[@tristanwegner]

I don't get why you need more than one cable when attaching it off the equator. If we attach it e.g. at New York and extend it past the distance of the geostationary orbit, I predict that there is an equilibrium angle where the tether will point slightly south in NY and the terminus station will end up a bit north(and further out) of the geostationary orbit. Edit: Found this calculation that agrees with me: gassend.net/spaceelevator/non-equatorial/

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

Thought the same

[@prakadox]

1. Extra strength needed for the rope 2. Possibly a good deal of land needed to be left empty on the ground, in the direction of the elevator unlike the vertical space elevator? (I'm not sure of point 2)

[@jimbarron9939]

For stability is my guess: no matter how much you try to balance the load going down with the one coming up, there will be differences and, without the stability of multiple cables, the station would have to be constantly adjusting, (actually it would even with multiple cables due to inevitable slack in even the most non stretchable cable but a lot less than with only one cable. There are vastly more complexities to this project than are immediately apparent and this does not bode well for it. Our experience with nuclear power plants has consistently demonstrated that our cultures and, most especially, our politics, do not have remotely the integrity to give even a plausible chance of success to such a project. It was corrupt politics that (at multiple levels) was responsible for both the Challenger and Columbia disasters (going all the way back to the choice of a non equatorial orbit (which would have made a rescue mission possible. Of course the Russians offered to do a rescue mission and well could have but our politicians found the very high risk of death for the astronauts preferable to the embarrassment of having them rescued by the Russians. Do, despite KNOWING about the foam strike they CHOSE to NOT look at the damage (which they well could have) because they PREFERRED to NOT know lest they have no option but to accept rescue by Russians. That was by a huge margin the very WORST, the most WRONG "stuff" in any space program ever. And IMHO why the USA hasn't put a man in space (except on someone ELSE"S rocket) since. The USA simply does not remotely have the basic INTEGRITY required to do such things anymore. When you operate in space, LIES just won't cut it.

[@davidaustin6962]

also, perhaps need to balance coriolis forces

[@peoplezk1]

If you bothered to read the link you posted then you'd know why there needs to one in the opposite hemisphere...

[@Fahnder99]

Thank you for your amazing work on this. I'd guess on the day we have the first kilometer long nanotube, the idea will be supported. Meanwhile, a future version of this vid could have some considerations of dynamic loads on the tether, like pod launch, wind and other effects. This and the management of a snap of one of the cables would add a great realism to the whole concept. By the way, having force-effectors with emergency release feature every kilometer or so would add some safety as well.

[@ReginnKunnr]

Wow! This one video (+ corresponding article by Aravind) has answered almost all of my questions and concerns about the topic of space elevators, specifically the physics involved.

[@mryusuf6086]

We need one badly to smell space air

[@rigamaroleoflife]

The base for the space elevator has to be within 20 degrees of the equator, otherwise the tether or ribbon for the device will be going up at an angle eventually lying close to the ground becoming unusable.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

20? Only near the poles should it actually run on the ground, and keep in mind a tether doesn't have to attach at sea level, you can stick it on a hill or tower.

[@rigamaroleoflife]

The earth is a lot rounder than we give it credit. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference but when troubleshooting for a short story I had to change the city where I had based the space elevator when I found out the problems with not putting it near the equator. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/edwards-elevator.html "Q: Would the space elevators have to be placed exactly on the equatorial line, like a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit, to maximize the centripetal force of the Earth's rotation to stiffen the elevator cable? Or would they work equally well anywhere on the surface of the Earth? What would be the "orbital physics 101" considerations here? Attila Gyuris, Lake Matthews, California Edwards: The elevator can be placed anywhere within 20 degrees of the equator due to the dynamics, but the performance is best at the equator. As you get off the equator, the ribbon goes up at an angle and eventually is lying close to the ground and is unusable."

[@rigamaroleoflife]

Great video by the way, not trying to be a jerk, just giving my two cents :)

[@maybeiam3367]

rigamaroleoflife why not have it be at one of the poles?

[@jmorrison1444]

Your speech impediment lulls me to sleep every night. Am I the only one?

[@beautybarconn]

Nope I do too every night and I’m asleep within 20 min! This actually cured my insomnia in a good way. Great content & great goodnight content.

[@Blontified]

Er to or is quite soothing to me too.

[@rainofhatred]

I honestly love it. Can get through a day of work mindlessly listening to this guy and still comprehend everything. Pretty relaxing and entertaining at the same time.

[@HumpX]

Im sure its been mentioned but if the idea of an orbital elevator interests you, check out the novel "Fountains of Paradise" by Arthur C. Clarke. It follows the construction of a near future "space elevator" with lots of hard science included.

[@cjnthn]

My initial thoughts are on the gravitational effects of having something extend from the ground, at an unknown distance from the core, to well outside of the normal atmosphere. The change in forces on the structure will be incredible!

[@Ari-nw3qy]

If carbon nanotubes really are too weak to support a space elevator and we don't find a stronger material, do you think we should have multiple stops with tethers connecting each of them?

[@HuntingTarg]

I don't see how that would be any better; if the cable won't support itself, then anything beyond the weight of the cable cannot be supported either.

[@massimookissed1023]

And what holds those multiple stops in place ? It's analogous to saying _we can't build taller than 1km, so just stack 1km tall buildings on top of each other._

[@RieseRock]

I believe more tethers from space would help support that one cable. Like the tethers that hold those tall red & white antennas, just inverted

[@paulcotton1992]

Use Adamantium to build it ;) cos that stuff is real i seen it on the documentory xmen. oh and i will chip in £5 towards the build.

[@Torahboy1]

Paul Cotton Surely ‘Unobtainium’ would be better?

[@jimmylaird4630]

200 downvotes from flat earthers. They are all over youtube.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I suspect its the same 200 :)

[@chippysteve4524]

Take it as a good sign,dude.I'd be a lot more concerned if the Flatearthers thought it was a good idea :-)

[@antonyborlase3965]

Their website actually mentions they have members all over globe.

[@lolsflint7598]

@@antonyborlase3965 true, which proves that they all are just seeking attention.

[@samuelnormandeau8770]

Thank you for being so thorough in explaining the concepts and for all your hard work! All the videos I've watched from you have been greatly appreciated!!

[@75jdwest]

I'm amazed with this guy. Where do you get so much rarified knowledge? He's like the Jordan Peterson of space science!

[@bruce6rt]

Jason West Peterson is a glorified motivational speaker selling shiny things.

[@riopratamamartin7870]

"In one moment earth , in the next . . . Heaven."

[@MarcoScetta]

Civilization quote!

[@andycroucheaux4568]

HUGE amounts of different electrical potential. Wont work, Lethal ! !

[@geordirendum583]

why will there be electrical potential difference ? static ?

[@DunsmoreFamily]

Etienne Regaj per phys.org graphene can be made as an insulator therefore there is no problem with electrical conductance Link: m.phys.org/news/2012-01-bilayer-graphene-insulator.html Just one of the reasons why it’s a great material to make the teather out of it.

[@jordan605632]

Just above the “Orth”

[@Rhovanion85]

The space elevethor is going in a circulhor motion around the eqeathor, it goes much higher than a skyscrapohr.

[@StarShine-Ranch]

Granted I have NOT watched the video yet, but I scanned the comments. Nobody seems to mention WIND. Even narrow ropes on flag poles and sailing ship masts flail around in the wind. A space elevator cable would, too. An orbiting shuttle tried to deploy a thin cable as "proof of concept" several decades ago, and it FAILED, whipping around when it was only partially deployed and then snapping. And that was OUTSIDE the atmosphere!

[@aarondyer.pianist]

Isaac, you have so much good content in just this 30 minutes that I found myself backtracking several times because you added a point that made me stop and have to think about it. This is terrific. I'm only sorry it took me so long to find you.