Morning Rituals and... Space Elevators???

みなさん、おはよう！きのうよんじにねました。きょうきゅうじよんじゅうごふんにおきました。ぶつりがくのじゅぎょうへいきました。じゅういちじにかえりました。いま、かいています。。。

Now that you all know about my morning activities, let's get on to the rest of the post, ね?

きのう I read an article about how Japanese scientists and engineers are planning to build a space elevator. To sum up the article, they're thinking of creating the elevator out of carbon nanotubes (the world's strongest material) and operating it in a way similar to how the しんかんせん is run.

Personally, I don't think this to be actually feasible at the moment. Although we have made great advances in carbon nanotube technology, it's still not there yet (trust me, I had to write a 19-page paper for materials science class last year about them). And even if we were able to create the materials necessary to build the elevator, the next problem is how to keep it standing... I wouldn't want a 22,000km tower falling in my back yard. Perhaps in the future, it will eventually be done, but I don't think it can be done the way current science and technology stand.

I do think, however, it is good to dream about such ventures. After all, didn't people redicule Jules Verne when he wrote about going to the moon? Maybe we'll be proven wrong, and one day this will become a reality. Besides, even if the space elevator never actually materializes, all the neat stuff that's going to come out of the R&D for such a behemoth will no doubt be incredible, similar to how many new discoveries and inventions were made after NASA's Apollo Program.

Here's the link to the official website of the project, if you're interested. It's in にほんご, however.

And on a side note, this article reminded me of the anime Gundam 00...