I’ve posted some articles previously (here and here) about mentions of the Space Elevator in the Indian Press.  Here is an article where the president of a Science Center in India speaks to his students and talks about, among other things, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and his invention of the concept of the Space Elevator.

Jan 18, 2007 Update – A reader posts a comment that Dr. Kalam, the person who made the address that I’m referring to, is actually the President of India, not just of this Science Center.  I got confused – I thought that Manmohan Singh was the President of India, but I was wrong.  He’s the Prime Minister of India.  Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, indeed is the President of India.  My sincerest apologies to Dr. Kalam and all those I may have misled.  Here is a link to a webpage about him – he has a very impressive technical background.

Imagine that, a President of a rapidly developing country, a nuclear power and a country with an active Space Program and he’s familiar with the Space Elevator.  In Dr. Edwards latest book, he indicates that six areas on the globe are potential sites for the Space Elevator.  Two of these are in the Indian Ocean and India is the country that has an active space program and is closest to these two points.  Hmmmm….

Another “Year in Review” article, this one from New Scientist.  The Space Elevator Games are briefly mentioned.

To paraphrase Robert Heinlein (I don’t remember which novel this was in), “The laws of Physics work for everyone, not just Americans.”  I’m sure I have the specific quote wrong, but I think I’m accurately capturing the sentiment he was expressing – if we don’t build it, someone else can (and will).

Once the cable can actually be created, the limiting factor will be the heavy-lift capability to get it into geosynchronous orbit.  Right now, only the American and Russian space programs can do this.  But others, most notably the Chinese, Indians and Japanese may have this capability in the near future.

This is an interesting article about our future space partners/competitors.  It has nothing to do, explicitly, with building a Space Elevator, but the issues it brings up are, IMHO, very relevant to who will actually build the first Space Elevator.

I’ve been thinking about this for some time now.  We promote the Space Elevator as a tool for opening up space to everyone, not just “government employees and rich tourists”.  The idea sounds great, and, certainly, I’m all for it if it means that I might be able to get to space one day.  But its easy to imagine some (paranoid) scenarios where another country or consortium builds the Space Elevator and then sells lift capacity to people/groups who we do not agree with.

I certainly don’t propose NOT building a Space Elevator.  I just want to make sure that its we Americans who are the ones who build it and operate it… 

This is an interesting article from Space.com about a cable inspection robot.  It discusses, specifically, a robot for “terrestrial underground power cable systems”, but draws the obvious parallel for the need for automated inspections of a future Space Elevator.

As a serendipitous side note, a friend of mine recently suggested that perhaps a good way to test a carbon nanotube cable, or to demonstrate it’s strength, would be to use one for the San Francisco Cable Car system.  Ben Shelef pointed out that the requirements and environmental conditions wouldn’t be the same, but that it still might be a useful idea.

Regardless, these types of climbers / robots are going to be crucial in maintaining a Space Elevator.  As a retired Computer Programmer, I’d love the challenge of programming one of these to handle any and all conditions they might encounter.

Update: For some reason, this article from Space.com takes forever and a day to load – be patient – it will happen…