That future is very, very far away.
I am a chemist, and the laws of chemistry say that our current brand of rockets are as good as it gets, unless you use cubane or metallic hydrogen (which would just be silly).
Space elevators... don't make me laugh. Nano-tech as a whole is barely off the drawing-board and the fullerines required for your lift are still firmly nailed to it. Sure, they show promise, but promise doesn't always translate into reality. Case and point, spider silk. Sure umpteen times stronger than steal, loads of applications lined up, turns out that the compound used expands 9x and loses its strength on contact with moisture. Not bad for a spider who only expects the web to last a while and can rebuild it quickly. Bad news for any practical human application. I fear a similar fate for fullerines.
Yeh, this whole thread is not going to last long, but it needs to be said.
I am a chemist, and the laws of chemistry say that our current brand of rockets are as good as it gets, unless you use cubane or metallic hydrogen (which would just be silly).
Space elevators... don't make me laugh. Nano-tech as a whole is barely off the drawing-board and the fullerines required for your lift are still firmly nailed to it. Sure, they show promise, but promise doesn't always translate into reality. Case and point, spider silk. Sure umpteen times stronger than steal, loads of applications lined up, turns out that the compound used expands 9x and loses its strength on contact with moisture. Not bad for a spider who only expects the web to last a while and can rebuild it quickly. Bad news for any practical human application. I fear a similar fate for fullerines.
Yeh, this whole thread is not going to last long, but it needs to be said.