Ok, mostly I'm looking for the engineers and theoretical physicists views on why this is impossible and therefore why I have never heard this particular design for an intermediary space elevator ever proposed before.
Floating elevator segments held aloft by hydrogen gas bags all in a chain.
Basically, instead of trying to make a space elevator all in one go which everyone pretty much agrees is (a) Almost physically impossible with known materials and (b) totally impractical anyway because you'd have to get everything up into orbit first and then hang the damn thing like a Plumb from orbit.
I propose instead that you build from the ground up, using a chain of 500m (give or take) sections, each with their own independent elevator system that works on simple counter weights with regular ordinary stainless steel cable. (Im not sure what the most efficient length of cable is or even if steel would be what you'd want to use for this but basically, a regular elevator held in the air by hydrogen or helium balloons)
Each section would have enough flotation to support it's self and a small load, so that the more of these you added, the greater the height you could reach AND the greater the payload, as each section would take up a bit more of the weight. The very top section would probably end up floating around fairly randomly due to wind currents, but because the whole thing would be very elastic that wouldn't be a major problem and THEN you could build a much much smaller space elevator that reaches down to the altitude of this gas bag tower to pull things up into high orbit.
Thoughts on why this is totally impossible and therefore has never (to my knowledge) been proposed as a practical means of building a space elevator.
Floating elevator segments held aloft by hydrogen gas bags all in a chain.
Basically, instead of trying to make a space elevator all in one go which everyone pretty much agrees is (a) Almost physically impossible with known materials and (b) totally impractical anyway because you'd have to get everything up into orbit first and then hang the damn thing like a Plumb from orbit.
I propose instead that you build from the ground up, using a chain of 500m (give or take) sections, each with their own independent elevator system that works on simple counter weights with regular ordinary stainless steel cable. (Im not sure what the most efficient length of cable is or even if steel would be what you'd want to use for this but basically, a regular elevator held in the air by hydrogen or helium balloons)
Each section would have enough flotation to support it's self and a small load, so that the more of these you added, the greater the height you could reach AND the greater the payload, as each section would take up a bit more of the weight. The very top section would probably end up floating around fairly randomly due to wind currents, but because the whole thing would be very elastic that wouldn't be a major problem and THEN you could build a much much smaller space elevator that reaches down to the altitude of this gas bag tower to pull things up into high orbit.
Thoughts on why this is totally impossible and therefore has never (to my knowledge) been proposed as a practical means of building a space elevator.