Slip The Surly Bonds of Earth -- !!!!!!

Remember those dreamers out in California -- the guys who are working on a space elevator?

Improbable? The Chinese, the Russians and the Japanese are interested in developing one, too!

A "space elevator", affectionately called "the beanstalk" is a kind of tether which stretches for thousands of miles into space, using the earth's rotation to

The current problem is figuring out which material to use for the cable, but there's been some promising research into carbon nanotechnology. Once it's constructed, transport of raw materials would be cheap, and space craft can avoid the gravity well of earth.

Seems that the Chinese are working on one. From a CNN/money article, towards the end of the page (of course, it is CNN, and they deride the effort at the beginning. )

Who will bite first? The Chinese government has made no secret of its ambitious space program and carbon nanotube research. Nor has Japan. "Whoever builds the first elevator will have a virtual monopoly on all future ones," Edwards says. "The political and economic structure of the world could be completely different 50 years from now."

It's so reassuring that Americans can still dream large dreams -- Thomas Edison tinkered with a bunch of wires while theories swam around his brain. Henry Ford dreamed of providing affordable "horseless" carriages. Then there's the improbable stories that the Wright brothers told each other about flying through the air.

JFK wanted to put a man on the moon, and we did it! We not only got Tang out of it, but a generation of kids fascinated with math and science. In 2004, George Bush spoke of putting a man on Mars, and building a permanent base on the Moon. That would have been enough to earn my vote.

Heh! The Liftport Group has been invited to judge at the First LEGO League Nano Quest World Championship. Click here for info. It's not a bunch of brilliant scientists making amazing constructions with little square blocks, it's a serious scientific endeavor, challenging teams of engineers from 38 countries, and children to solve serious problems. The LEGO company sponsors it.

There's just something beautiful about nerds and LEGO's, a company that understands its market niche.

Dream on, guys! I'd kind of like to get off this mudball, too! Maybe y'all can establish a zero gravity gym on one of the platforms with big transparent windows!!!

Click to LiftPortGroup for more.

Above photo is conceptual art from LiftPort. Here's a link to Amazon.com for the book!

Crossposted at RedState.com

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