OT: About Space Elevators

[Baron Munchausen]

Talk about the static discharge is probably because of memories of the tether experiments with the shuttle. This was a deliberate attempt to generate electricity with a conducting cable. I believe carbon nano-tubes are non-conducting. I sure hope so. Given the amount of power that little cable on the shuttle created I'd expect absolutely awesome voltages on a space elevator cable since it would run right through the ionosphere and even the Van Allen radiation belts. If the earth's magnetic field doesn't rotate at exactly the same speed as the lithosphere and the cable conducts, you've just made the largest magnetic generator in history.

[ October 10, 2002, 19:48: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[geoschmo]

From the High Lift systems FAQ:

Will the ribbon produce an electrical current?
Yes, but on the level of milliwatts.

The FAQ has a lot of answers, but very little detail for those answers. But apparently they have looked at the issue.