从格致的博客里发现这么个有趣味飞行器，还真赖，真想自己也能拥有一个这样一个玩意。最好还是全太阳能供电，远程摄像头安在上面，那不是可以足不出户，周游各地呵。

不过看到空上飞行器，的确比较酷似于UFO的飞行状态，如果外层加上一个壳，你看看像不像UFO了。

这世界正是无奇不有，蒲公英也能当燃油用了，期货市场更是将其炒得许高。

華爾街現在幾乎每天都有報告盛讚蒲公英的投資價值，指出葉子和花可兼做家畜飼料和車輛燃料。而蒲公英期貨價上周五已漲至每英斗6.76美元，是蒲公英期貨上市後新高價。

于是到百科全书找了点资料，还学到不少。

蒲公英，又称黄花地丁，是亚热带常见的一种一年或两年生草本植物。蒲公英的英文名字名字来自法语 dent-de-lion，意思是狮子牙齿，是因为蒲公英叶子的形状象一嘴尖牙。

蒲公英叶子从根部上面一圈长出，围着一两根花茎。花茎是空心的，折断之后有白色的乳汁。花为亮黄色，由很多细花瓣组成。成熟之后，花变成一朵圆的蒲公英伞，被风吹过会分为带着一粒种子的小白伞。各国儿童都以吹散蒲公英伞为乐。

学名：Taraxacum officnala
英文名：Dandelion
拼音名：Pu gong ying
拉丁名：Herba Taraxaci
别名：蒲公草、食用蒲公英、尿床草、西洋蒲公英

http://www.hoodong.com/wiki/%E8%92%B2%E5%85%AC%E8%8B%B1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion

不过其炼油的原理是怎么都没找着，估计是使用它的糖类生成的酒精作为燃料。如果哪儿有心人找了，也俏个信，告诉我瞧瞧。感觉Bio Oil 生物油类很有潜力。

天梯(又译空间电梯)是一种低成本将有效载荷从地球或其它星球的表面运输到空间的解决方案。

这个方案旨在建造一部称作天梯的运输工具。天梯由几个部分组成：

• 平衡锤：平衡锤是一个比较重的物体，放置于同步轨道上方。
• 缆绳：缆绳是一条十分长且结实的绳子，上粗下细，用于连接地面与平衡锤。
• 货舱：货舱用于装载货物，它可以顺着缆绳在空间和地面之间上下移动。
• 地面基站：地面基站用于将缆绳固定在地面上，并为货舱的移动提供能源，能量通过激光传送到货舱。

对于建造在地球上的天梯，平衡锤需要位于距离地面至少3.6万千米上空，使用3.6万千米长的缆绳与地面连接。这种缆绳必须十分结实，目前已经发现的材料中，只有碳纳米管可以胜任。包括平衡锤和缆绳的质心位于地球同步轨道的高度，同时为了保证整个装置固定，地面基站通常建造在赤道附近，同时应该尽量选择商业飞行较少的区域，以避免飞机与缆绳或货舱相撞，同时缆绳和货舱还必须能够抵御来自风和闪电的袭击。

对于建造在月球上的天梯，要求相比地球要低，因为月球重力较小，且没有大气因素影响，自转速度较慢，且为同步自转。这种条件下，平衡锤可以建造在月球和地球的引力中点，即月球的拉格朗日点上。

天梯的概念最初出现在1895年，但是甚至就在几年前，它还仅仅只是一种科学幻想，因为找不到一种合适的材料来制造足够强度的缆绳。随着近年纳米技术取得的突破性进展，建造一部现实的天梯已经成为可能，预计其建造成本约100亿美元，远少于国际空间站或航天飞机计划的投资。

在动画机动战士高达 00中，第一条天梯于23世纪末被建造。

对于这个儿时的幻想：“为何不拉一上线索到外太空的”. 其实在1895年就有人提出来，似乎最近已经将许多难题都解决了，这可大大节省运载量与运载成本。而且，太空之旅成为现实，科学家的外太空观察更容易。

Climbing The Sky

The dream of a Space Elevator is a monumental one. A vision that will not only further space exploration and knowledge, but has the potential to shape the existential future of the human race for centuries to come.

For the first time since it was initially conceived, this dream is now within our reach.

With the Elevator:2010 challenge, the Spaceward Foundation has joined the on-going construction effort, adding energy, resources and new initiatives to the ever-growing number of organizations, companies, websites and enthusiasts focused on the technical, political and economic development of the Space Elevator.

Our goal is to generate enough interest in the project, so that within five years the Space Elevator basic building blocks can be demonstrated as feasible, and full-scale design and construction can begin.And hence our name. Elevator:2010. we promise to get an answer for you by then.

http://www.spaceward.org/elevator2010

这个2010的梦会实现吗？ 拭目以待.

The Space Elevator is a space transportation system that is a radical departure from rocket-based space travel. Contrary to our first intuition, it is actually possible to construct a physical “railroad to space”, such that leaving the planet will involve riding out rather than rocketing out.Building this railroad involves two stages - laying the track, and running the trains.

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The track for the Space Elevator is a actually a cable, initially less than 1/4″ in diameter, extending from the surface of the earth to a mass in space.Similar to a spinning keychain, the rotation of the Earth about its axis throws the mass outwards, and keeps the tether taut. Accounting for the centrifugal force, the Space Elevator is actually hanging from the ground and into space!

Because of the slow rate of rotation of the Earth (only one revolution per 24 hours) the cable has to be very long - theoretically at least 25,000 miles, and in practice closer to 60,000 miles.

The difficulty in building the Space Elevator is that this very long cable has to carry its own weight without breaking. Until recently, we knew of no material that even came close to achieving this.

The discovery of Carbon Nanotubes in 1990 opened the door to the construction of the Space Elevator, and research into making Carbon Nanotube tethers has been underway ever since.

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Once the cable is in place, electric cars can travel on it using mechanisms not much different than those found on ski lifts. The trick lies in powering the cars, since fuel or batteries end up weighing more than the cars can lift.The solution that was proposed in 2000 by Dr. Bradley Edwards (then of Los Alamos National Laboratory) is to use a technique called “power beaming”.

The cars (called “climbers” in Space Elevator jargon) carry photo-voltaic cells facing back towards the Earth, and a ground station projects a strong beam of light at them. The cells convert the light into electricity, and drive the motors.

The main benefit of power beaming is that it allows us to leave the fuel tank on the ground, making the climbers very light weight - basically comprised only of solar cells and electric motors.

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As promised, the complete system is quite revolutionary. It allows payloads to be launch to space for basically the cost of electricity to run the power beaming system.Each climber carries more payload than its own self weight (compared to the 1% payload carried by a rocket) and never subjects the payload to high accelerations or vibrations. A ride in the Space Elevator is comparable to transport in a train.

The climbers carry no fuel so are never in danger of exploding, and travel at a lesurely 100-200 MPH along the cable.

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Space Elevators can be built to any scale. The first design uses a 1/4″ cable and can lift about 20 tons at a time, launching once per day. Larger Space Elevators can then be constructed that will lift 100 or 1000 tons at a time, opening the way to commercial scale access to space.

Looking back from a point in time 100 years from now, it is the construction of the first Space Elevator that will be marked as the true beginning of the Space Age and of the interplanetary civilization.