2007 Space Elevator Games – (Entry 57)

Touching the future.

That’s what I was able to do tonight, actually touch the future.  Even though the tether brought by MIT’s Delta-X team was not the winner in tonight’s Tether competition, it represents, IMHO, the future.  We get excited when reading articles about how carbon nanotubes are now “1 cm long” or “2 cm long”, etc., but Delta-X brought a tether, made purely out of carbon nanotubes, that was 2 METERS long.  Stephen Steiner, head of the Delta-X team gave it to me to study and to handle.

I had a feeling of awe while doing so, truly I did.  This is the future.  Yes, carbon nanotubes are not yet equal to other technology.  And yes, it will take some time.  And yes, it represents the future.

I’ll post some good close-up shots of the Delta-X carbon nanotube tether tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see what they bring next year.

4 thoughts on “2007 Space Elevator Games – (Entry 57)

  1. Andrew Price

    Wow. looking forward to the shots. Any idea what the specific strength is (sans knot failures)?

  2. Cindy

    I also got to feel nanotubes and they are very cool! I was shocked at how flexible they were. We also got a chance to speak with Stephen Stiener. He held an impromtu class. With a audience between the ages of 7 and 10. He did a great job of breaking this topic down and was very personable! Lauren DeFlores was also there and represented the women of science well. Look for great things from her!

  3. Pingback: DeltaX competes at the NASA Centennial Challenges Strong Tether Challenge | ARTs, IDEAs, ENGINEERing, NETWORKing

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