One of the organizations I belong to is The Planetary Society. I support them because they actually DO stuff, not just sit there and talk about it. They also have great podcasts. Each week their host, Mat Kaplan, does a truly fine job in interviewing his guests.
I recently became a first-time entrant to their weekly Trivia contests. Mat took the time to personally reply to me and I found out that he was well aware of the concept of the Space Elevator. He had interviewed Ben Shelef in 2005, before the first Annual Space Elevator games occurred. That interview can be found here and is well worth your time to listen to. It really is well done and it gives you a window into the how and why that the Space Elevator Games exist.
This is also notice to my readers that if future Trivia contests have a subject that can, at all, be related to a Space Elevator, I’m going to post it on this blog and will urge my readers to respond to it. Several weeks ago, their Trivia Question was “What is the altitude of Geosynchronous orbit?” – something that all Space Elevator afficianados should know by heart. I somehow missed this show and by the time I heard it, it was too late. It won’t happen again…
(Note: You can click on the Planetary Society picture of a Solar Sail and see a larger version – be warned – it’s a 5MB file)
I would like to recommend that the space elevator tube be articulated with universal ball joints at regular intervals. This would relieve stress and prevent ruptures in the elevator, since the tube would have a certain amount of free play in it.
I am an inventor, and have promulgated this concept for use in subsea OTECwater intake pipes as well.