... Sea water contains a lot of dissolved magnesium, in addition to various other salts, and extraction of the magnesium salts from the sea water should not be...
I think there's a lot more small debris/meteorites than big ones, and the cable would be more vulnerable to them just due to its small size. You might well be...
... If they're cross-connected, then you would expect that if one got cut then the ends would flap around and impact something sooner or later. Maybe you could...
... True. For small meteoroids there should be these factors: 1) Meteoroids hit less often in poportion to cable width 2) meteoroids deposit less energy in...
... The chance for a hit would increase with sqrt(n) (n cables divided by sqrt(n) smaller collision cross-section per cable), and the energy needed to cut...
... Design the ribbon to take 165% of its payload and it can contain 3 cables. If one cable is cut the other two cables can support the weight. The broken...
2009/4/2 Andrew Swallow ... Yeah, but what happens when the broken bit goes through the bearings at more than 7.8km/s+? I mean, you'll normally only have a few...
... Nothing if the bearings are hanging below the ring. The ring needs to be in tension, and a broken one could simply be released and expand outwards, never...
... As previously pointed out any space elevator that can be built with today tech will most likely require some element of self replication. With that said...
Technology like this is certainly doable in some distant future, but I don't see it happening prior to practical transmutation. The problem with todays...
... There are exactly two "todays versions" of self replication: biological organisms and human technology. Only the former is autonomously self-replicating....
... I agree with Andrea. A paper referenced in this thread claims that a self replicating machine would be less complex than the processor in a laptop. If you...
... This is sort of a contradiction in terms, as machine self-replication is not by any means "today's tech". Even the more limited "manufacturing stuff from...
... The one place a sophisticated assembly machine is needed is to produce a lunar space elevator. Pity there is little carbon on the moon. Andrew Swallow...
A lunar space elevator wouldn't require CNT. Steel cable would probably be strong enough for that. However, there won't be a demand for a lunar space...
... A lunar based space elevator can be used to provide materiels to build an orbital ring space elevator for earth. Such an elevator can transport cargo that...
... With ion driver and using methods outline in the paper: "Weak stability boundary trajectories for the deployment of lunar spacecraft constellations" by...
... The one area of Self Replicating machines that we have not covered is the power supply. Silicon from the moon can be converted into solar cells but that...
... If you want to keep self replicating to one technology domain as much as possible (I vote mechanical) then some type of solar driven heat engine makes...
... The 2 best working fluids for a sterling engine are He and H. You want a fluid with light weight to reduce reciprocating losses. And with low viscosity to...
... Unless we find ice at the poles the moon is going to be free of hydrogen, helium and carbon. That is why I suggested oxygen as the gas, although I would...
... We need many, many processes that we do not have. Solar driven heat engines are fine for generating energy, but in view of self replication they are a dead...
... As I have said before, electronics is an absolute must because of the extensive need for data storage and computation. Electronics requires electric power...
... Electrical generators are basically electric motors working in reverse. The equipment to produce one can make the other. The electrical alternators used...
... Yes. Reluctance motors actually make very good generators. ... I don't think so. An appropriate surface coating on the back should be all that is needed to...
... Candidate inert gases are what I am asking for. I have thought of one possibility - Carbon Dioxide. Mars's atmosphere contains both nitrogen and argon. ...
... Carbon dioxide is actually generated by the humans. To avoid poisoning the air it has to be recycled one way or the other. Until a farm with plants is...
... Certainly CO2 is generated by humans. However, I thought we were talking about SELF-replicating machines. If every machine has one or more humans...
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