More Cool Stuff

Black holes: The ultimate quantum computers?

Nearly all of the information that falls into a black hole escapes back out, a controversial new study argues. The work suggests that black holes could one day be used as incredibly accurate quantum computers – if enormous theoretical and practical hurdles can first be overcome.

Samizdata has a good critque of the Space Shuttle and how much it sucked from inception:

NASA got the spaceplane design so badly wrong on the Space Shuttle one hardly knows where to start. Mike shows the science behind some of those truly awful design choices. First off is wing loading. Virtually everyone in the business knows high wing loading on a manned re-entry vehicle is not just a bad idea, it is almost criminally insane. Once you go down that route you are forced into ever more dangerous and ever more marginal design decisions. High wing loading means there is a lot of vehicle weight per square foot of wing. It means more kinetic energy has to be dissipated over a smaller area. It means the re-entry interface happens much deeper into the atmosphere. It means you cannot skip and bleed off heat. It means you need heavy thermal protection systems... and on and on.

Linked is a more facinating article about high-density Borum-gel fuels.... Which we may need if we are to build a Space Elevator:

For the 2006 midterm elections, Republicans should propose an idea so big that it stretches to the stars. Republicans should commit the government to building a space elevator by 2020.

A space elevator would essentially be a 62,000-mile cable stretching from the earth's surface out into space. Because one end of the cable would be in high orbit, gravity would prevent it from falling back to earth. Once the cable was in place, space travelers would board an elevator-like device and ride up the cable.

The 62,000-mile cable would endure tremendous stress from supporting its own mass, so the primary challenge in building a space elevator lies in constructing the cable out of material strong enough not to break. Fortunately, scientists have determined that carbon nanotubes, which are over one hundred times stronger than steel, could be used for the cable. Unfortunately, no one yet knows how to fashion mile-long strands of carbon nanotubes — but we are close.

This idea has been around awhile. Now, its feasable. With Bush Mars initiative and a space elevator, the USA can stop twiddling around with low-orbit High-School experiments and regain the initiative in exploration.