> Tra "a beanstalk to the moon??? -wouldn't rotation and an eliptical orbit make that sort of "tether" a little difficult?" nio

Actually, I was just thinking of having a beastalk from the earth to a space-station in geosynchronous(sp?) orbit, and similar one on the moon. Then, to get to the moon, you take a (very long) elvator ride to space, fly a shuttle to lunar orbit, and take a (not-quite-as-long) elevator ride down to the lunar surface.

Some other nanotube ponderings:

-They change their electrical properties based on the geometry of their atom... ie, you can make electrical componants the in the nanometer range

-They are about 50-100 times stronger than steel, weigh only one-fourth as much, are 1/10,000 the diameter of a human hair, and are harder than diamonds, yet they stretch farther than any other material in existance

-Sci-fi has occasionally used nanoscopic strings (like nanotubes) as weapons... for example, make a web of nanotubes at the entrance of a doorway, and if somebody tries to walk through it, they come out in several pieces.

-Nanotubes are currently used as tips of extremely powerful microscopes, to not only "see" atoms (or their individual behaviors), but to manipulate them, one atom or molecule at a time.

-They can conduct electricity better than copper; a one-inch bundle of nanowires will hold 10^14 wires.

-Nanotubes conduct heat very well in one axis, but insulate on another axis

-They can have multiple walls, or tubes-inside-of-tubes (inside of tubes, inside of tubes, etc.)

-They can make them only about one millimeter long at the moment (pretty good, considering they're around one nanometer in diameter), but hopefully they will be able to develop them "kilometers long" in the future

-If you unravel a nanotube, you get a string of carbon atoms capable of over a thousand amps per square cm.

Most of these 'ponderings' came from a lecture given by R. E. Smalley, co-discoverer of the Buckyball (C60 molecule). The link to this fascinating (at least to me it's fascinating) lecture is below.

-Eni"can't wait for the beanstalk"gma