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A Canadian company, Thoth Technology Inc, has been awarded a patent for an inflatable space elevator.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/space-elevator-could-lift-people-12-miles-up-in-the-air/
A Canadian space company was recently awarded a patent for a space elevator that would reach about 12 miles (20 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.
...
According to Thoth Technology Inc., the company that was awarded the patent, the U.S. patent allows for an elevator that would be 30 percent cheaper than the fuel required by a conventional rocket. Also, the system would be fully reusable, further reducing costs, the company said.
"Astronauts would ascend to 20 km by electrical elevator," inventor Brendan Quine said in a statement. "From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refueling and reflight."
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Tuesday August 18 2015, @11:37PM
that they've invented an inflatable bounce house with a space elevator on top? Watch 10mph winds tip it over, and gasp at the 12 mile long city-wide devastation.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @12:40AM
Eh, no. There's no space elevator on top. They've invented calling an inflatable bounce house a "space elevator".
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday August 19 2015, @02:56AM
Space elevators, like flu vaccines, are one of those ideas that I've always thought were not only unnecessary but pants-on-head retarded.
But sometimes even nerds can be subtle in their trolling.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:54AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford