So, about that golden egg?

[unixronin]

Unless I'm badly mistaken, yesterday's announcement of a process for continuously extruding carbon-nanotube ribbon means we how have every essential technology and material that we need to build a beanstalk.  That's right, not the goose-and-giant type, the space-elevator type.  The process, developed by the University of Texas at Dallas, can extrude continuous "buckytape" up to 5cm wide at speeds up to 10 meters per minute.  Stronger than steel, weight-for-weight, but weighing only 30kg per square kilometer, it'd also make a hell of a material for a lightsail.

Arthur C. Clarke bet it would become possible soon.  Looks like it might happen even sooner than he expected.

(Article from jw1776 via technoshaman)

Comments

[johnkzin.livejournal.com]

Light and strong ... I wonder if you can layer and weave it up into some form of body armor and/or vehicle armor.

Or even just light weight, but safely strong, consumer vehicle bodies. Seems like that might help with MPG for gasoline cars, and endurance for electric cars.

How do they react with petroleum and petrol products? Could they help with lining gas tanks, tanker-truck trailers, and tanker ship hulls, to prevent ruptures?

So many questions for a promising technology.

Seems like we're one step closer to the promised future. Bring it on!