Comments on: Geeky interview now online

By: Jeremy Thomson

Jeremy Thomson — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:44:30 +0000

FYI it would take a 747 19 years to ‘fly to the sun’ not 70.
1 AU 149598000 Km
Cruise speed of 747 893 Km/h
149598000 / 893 / 24 / 365.25 = 19 years 40 days 9 hours

By: Zucchi

Zucchi — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:38:44 +0000

Wait, I know — what you need for a space elevator is any lightweight material in a stasis field (from Larry Niven’s Known Space stories). That’s the ticket. Infinitely high tensile strength, compressive strength, and resistance to impact.

By: Zucchi

Zucchi — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:20:45 +0000

Great interview!

It occurs to me that another problem for a space elevator would be all the bits of space junk in lower orbit, moving at thousands of miles an hour relative to the elevator. Yikes.

So the rope to the sky might remain a beautiful dream; I hope at least we can develop a much, much more cost-effective way to boost stuff into orbit. (If we make the investment to have a permanent presence on the Moon, we could start putting lunar material into orbit with solar-powered mass drivers. That would definitely work.)

Guess I should give this quibble: April 13, 2036 will be a Sunday, not a Friday. Don’t even need to look that up.

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:42:13 +0000

Which were the two “awful” Stargate episodes you refer to? My guess is one of them could be “Red Sky” (season 5).

By: Collin

Collin — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:58:28 +0000

The Doctor Who part actually was what got my attention…

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:33:14 +0000

I love Half Price Books!

Gratuitous link: http://www.hpb.com

On a related note, I look forward to listening to the podcast.

By: NAW

NAW — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:37:52 +0000

You are really intense with the Doctor Who talks.

EDIT:
By the way, the “How the Universe Works.” is out on DVD now. Finally getting to watch them, and see someone I somewhat kind of know from online.