I wonder if there’s any significance to the fact that there is only one (known?) material out of which a space elevator could be constructed on Earth. Most planets, I would expect, will be such that either no material is strong enough, or several materials are strong enough. Earth lies just on the boundary.
It is just the current state of technology that only one usable material exists (no fact checking has been done), Given time a wide variety of eligible materials will be developed with appropriate properties. This is nothing special, just the endless advance of science in materials engineering.
Maybe this is part of the great filter? No planets that have lower gravitational force are hospitable to intelligent life and all planets that are hospitable to intelligent life have higher gravitational force. We are just incredibly lucky to lie just one the boundary.
I am not suggesting that gravity causes intelligent life to evolve but that the overall characteristic of such planets is such that etc.
I wonder if there’s any significance to the fact that there is only one (known?) material out of which a space elevator could be constructed on Earth. Most planets, I would expect, will be such that either no material is strong enough, or several materials are strong enough. Earth lies just on the boundary.
We probably won’t build a space elevator anyhow—though check out some other options.
It is just the current state of technology that only one usable material exists (no fact checking has been done), Given time a wide variety of eligible materials will be developed with appropriate properties. This is nothing special, just the endless advance of science in materials engineering.
Boron Nitride nanotubes are strong enough, and enough stickier that they’d probably be better than carbon nanotubes.
Maybe this is part of the great filter? No planets that have lower gravitational force are hospitable to intelligent life and all planets that are hospitable to intelligent life have higher gravitational force. We are just incredibly lucky to lie just one the boundary.
I am not suggesting that gravity causes intelligent life to evolve but that the overall characteristic of such planets is such that etc.
Doubtful. You can lift a seed colony up to where launch is easy.