What do you think of the following idea I've started explaining on Substepr.com? http://substepr.com/w/index.php?tit...stead_of_using_a_space_elevator#Understanding It's not a new concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_ring) but clearly we don't have one yet. After a quick glance of the wikipedia article it seems like my idea is different from the standard idea in that I suggest having a ring that can vary in size to carry masses into different orbits. Who would like to help me flesh out the particulars? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hiya, It would look like a really thin Saturn ring from a distance but the main difference is that Saturns rings are just freely floating rocks and ice rather than a solid structure. The powering of the lasers would be quite easy - solar cells. Yeah you could fit the solid ring with lasers to give it an extra function. I'm sure it would come in handy eventually. I don't know if it would be the most effective way to destroy or divert asteroids or big comets though. I imagine there would lots of simpler way to do that but lasers have already been seriously considered for diverting asteroids or comets. The idea is that if you shine an intense beam onto them you vapourise some of the mass of the object which acts as a propellant and gradually pushes the object off-course so that it's no longer on a collision course with earth (if you catch them long enough in advance). You could achieve that with a big orbiting laser that you aim out into space (like the hubble space telescope). If it ever went wrong though and pointed at earth it could make one hell of a mess..... then again, as a last resort (Armageddon-style), it's a risk worth taking!
Most of the earths surface is water anyway so it's not likely to do much damage, but it certainly could.
It can be done with technology that we already have. The same can't be said of the space elevator concept which is still waiting on a large-scale carbon nanotube manufacturing process. A ring would need more materials and would take longer to construct but if you started it now it might be complete before a space elevator has the right technology.
