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Title: The Space Elevator: A Revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation System by Bradley C. Edwards, Eric A. Westling ISBN: 0-9726045-0-2 Publisher: Spageo Inc Pub. Date: 14 January, 2003 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Thrilling and entertaining
Comment: The authors managed to convince me in a very short time that Edwards' plan of a Space Elevator could indeed be feasible in a very short time from now (given only a few technological breakthroughs yet to be achieved).
The layout of the book is utterly sophomoric, even more of a surprise as Edwards apparently had a professional writer at hand to co-author the book. These guys have obviously never heard anything about LaTeX or other quality type setting systems that are, mind you, standard in the maths/engineering scientific community. The readibility of the formulae suffers most, and the presentation of the tables and figures is a disgrace as well.
Some readers might find the prose is lacking in style, although I quite liked the colloquial approach (I must say that I'm not a native speaker of English, so if I was I might be annoyed as well). The structure of the chapters would profit from quite some refactoring, too.
Still the sheer amount of information provided is impressive and the authors do a great job in convincing even the most sceptical of the feasibility of this project by tackling most, if not all, of the problems at hand with great skill.
I strongly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in space-faring, science fiction or just great technological ideas that should rather be realized today than tomorrow.
Rating: 4 Rating: 5 Dr. Bradley Edwards has studied this problem and his solution is a space elevator, an idea that until recently has attracted the attention more of science fiction writers than working scientists. This book, while suffering in places from lapses in style and clear presentation, manages admirably to describe the basic details of Edwards's reformulation of the space elevator concept. Non-scientists will have no problem following the argument. The key to this contemporary scientific and engineering study of the feasibility of a space elevator is the discovery in the early 1990's of carbon nanotubes. Their physical properties of extreme tensile strength and light weight make them an ideal candidate for playing the role of that elusvive material, "unobtainium". Of course it still remains to be see whether they can be formed into a composite that has the requisite characteristics that will permit the construction of a tether 100,000 kilometers long stretching from earth to well beyond geostationary orbit. An excellent introduction to what we all hope will be the 21st century's CATS pyjamas! Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
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Summary: First phase of a blueprint for the defense of planet earth
Comment: Every year geologists and meteorite hunters find more evidence that the moon and the earth share a common fate in the shooting gallery of our solar system. As the picture of a meteorte strike on the moon in 1954 and the 1994 levy-shoemaker-9 comet strike on our solar systems comet sink, Jupiter demonstrate, we are vulnerable to catastrophic attacks from comets and asteroids that cross the earth's orbit. Chicsulube,Mexico, Chesapeake Bay,us, the meteor
The French mathematician Poissian postulated that it can happen again next week and next month afterwards. One need only remember the lady who won the New Jersey lottery TWICE to understand just how fickle lady chance can be.
The space elevator offers the only economically feasible method to date that could lift the necessary material and manpower to address this very real threat.
The fullerenes 160 Giga-Pascals loading limit need to be attacked with the same urgency of the manhattan project.
The author's do slightly address this issue but they missed a major use for this (SE) technology.
The book reads like a college term paper and even looks like it was xeroxed from one. What it has to say is beautiful and needs to be fleshed out into an encyclopedia of future spacefaring that will make the currect economic sluggishness seem almost a welcome thing.
Look for the stock market to grab nanotechnology ie (fullerenes)in 5 years or so and hype it to the nines.
Summary: Want a Lift?
Comment: After the latest shuttle disaster, the challenge of obtaining cheap (and safe) access to space now occupies NASA's attention more than ever before. If humans are ever to realize the dream of space--exploration, commercialization and settlement on a massive scale--then we need to find a means to climb out of the earth's steep gravity well that is reliable and relatively inexpensive.Similar Books:
