What if?

[bradley101]

Now say ESA or NASA come on the news and say they have unlocked the secret to fusion power. Now don't just thing fusion rockets think ample power for VASMIR engines and huge habation modules in orbit.

Also a "What If?" What If we built a space elevator that can carry 50 ton to 100km in 5 hours.

What If we could make anti-matter cheaply?

P.S I love this part of the forum because of all the theoyetical stuff.

[Thiel]

Now say ESA or NASA come on the news and say they have unlocked the secret to fusion power. Now don't just thing fusion rockets think ample power for VASMIR engines and huge habation modules in orbit.

If anyone is going to unlock fusion power then I think it's going to be the people at ITER

Given the masses involved I doubt it's going to see much use in space for quite some time though.

[Nikolai]

Also a "What If?" What If we built a space elevator that can carry 50 ton to 100km in 5 hours.

We had one of those. The Saturn V could deliver 120,000 kg to LEO -- more than twice your hypothetical mass -- and it took a lot less than five hours to do it. The American people decided that it was not desirable. It's not just that we no longer make Saturn V rockets; we no longer make the machines that were used to assemble the Saturn V rockets. A gigantic chuck of aerospace infrastructure was utterly dismantled and removed.

A lot of questions come to mind with your hypothetical question. How expensive is this space elevator to run? How much time must we wait between trips? Are there trade agreements to be negotiated with the equatorial nation that owns the land where the base of the elevator sits?

What If we could make anti-matter cheaply?

How cheaply? How cheaply could we contain it or transport it?

I expect there would be efforts to guard the secret of cheap antimatter initially, since it promises to place a lot of destructive power in a lot of hands.

[Tommygun]

You can also mount a space elevator to the ocean floor in international waters and build a big oil rig type platform around it.

Although, I think there has been a lot of talk about stability problems with the elevator as soon as you try and actually move something up and down it.

I have my doubts we'll see it in our life time and I personally hope we never mass produce anti matter, just too dangerous.

Fusions power and VASMIR engines would help getting things around cheaper once in space and really open up manned space flight to other planets.

There is one idea that seems to have faded away in resent years that I think could be a more attainable alternative to the space elevator.

Using lasers to lift payloads into orbit. I think on a technical level it could be done much sooner than the elevator.

[Nikolai]

You can also mount a space elevator to the ocean floor in international waters and build a big oil rig type platform around it.

True, but that still doesn't make the problem go away completely. Who decides what rides on the elevator, and how is it decided? How is it protected from those who would attempt to damage or destroy it?

Personally, I think that if we develop the materials science necessary to make a space elevator a reality, the other technologies made possible by the same technological breakthroughs would win out. For example, if making long carbon nanotubes becomes a reality, how would that capability change the construction of space vehicles? Wouldn't it be possible to reduce structural weight and make them more efficient as well?

As a caveat, I should mention that I haven't actually crunched any numbers; I have vast, gaping ignorance when it comes to materials science. I'd really appreciate it if someone more knowledgeable could weigh in and let me know if my thoughts are completely baseless.

[karolus10]

In space elevator speed aren't really matters, because it's main purpose aren't carrying people but cargo/supplies to the orbit, for carrying people on orbit rockets and space-planes are faster and don't need radiation protection against van Allen radiation belts located in upper atmosphere.

Fusion reactors small enough to lift their components into space at reasonable cost could be substantial source of energy for future space colonization sun often aren't best choice for main power source source on mars colony .

Everyone should see, that this inventions will not only push mankind forward in space exploration but also bring much greater benefits on Earth.

"Compact" fusion power plants are holy grail of energy industry, providing tons of clean energy and making fossil fuel plants obsolete.

Also developing production process allowing manufacture carbon nanotube fibers on industrial scale will benefit in many fields like construction materials, ultra strong fabrics, electronics and production of low resistant (better resistance than gold) power grid cables, considerably reduce energy drain from transmission lines around the world .