Tuesday 25 August 2015

Going up, eh?

High gravity planet footwear
Checking the weather forecast, the other day, I came across this news link to a story about a patent given a Canadian company who has designed an elevator to carry us to the edge of space. At first I thought it was a gag, but Thoth Technology is real, and a press release on their website confirms the story.

I did not know that Canada was so involved in space programs. Despite being a bit concerned about winds hitting the elevator shaft from different directions at different altitudes, I found the whole aspect of Canada in space rather inspiring.

Accordingly, I have started thinking about some new space products. I am thinking first about suitable footwear for high gravity planets. Something like shown in the photo to the right might work for soft surfaces.

Drink container
photo: Sam Cavanagh

Drinking liquids in space presents a problem, but the little device shown on the left is ideal because its operation is intuitive and requires no special training. Considering that the weight of any payload is important, this nifty gadget can also double as an ashtray (again, an intuitive usage which will present no difficulties for Canadian astronauts).

I have a third product in mind, but because I have not worked out all of the details yet, I will have to keep quiet about it. I can only say that it involves frying back bacon in zero gravity.

But first things first. We really need to put a beaver in space for branding purposes.




The Canadian Beaver
photo: aeroprints

5 comments:

  1. Oh dear, at risk of permanent exile from your excellent blog, I thought beaver had already been sent into space...and as for Molson beer, perhaps outer space is the best place for it...forgive me ...

    John Howland
    England

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  2. You are always welcome here, John, But:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVPDL89FQ1M

    ;-) John

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  3. Hahahaha! Great beer that Molson! Love it.

    Regards

    Pinnochio

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  4. I live about 15-miles from Cape Canaveral, and regularly go metal detecting along the beaches just south of the inlet where you can easily see some of the many launch gantries...obsessionally, Space X (launch complex 13) will fire a few tests that suddenly roar away and scare the beejeebers out of you while your head is down with headphones listening for targets. We used to have a Space Alliance building about half a mile from the beach, that was turned unceremoniously into a parking lot for the cruise ships passengers leaving Port Canaveral. Over the last year or two, folks have been pulling very nice "SPACE ALLIANCE" medallions out of the sand...looks like someone literally threw several boxes of them into the surf, as they are all still in the small plastic wrappings...and earlier this year, a CSA medallion was found in the sand just south of the Cape...the only Canadian Space Agency medallion I've ever seen, a beautiful silver salute to Canadian drive and ingenuity...celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Space Agency. You have a lot to be proud of there John...and lets have some of that bacon before we get to orbit :-)

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  5. What a terrific find. I wonder if was brought there by a Canadian astronaut as a gift. I can't imagine that gift shops there could sell many Canadian medals.

    Canada is nice, but you don't get snow down by you, and you do not have to shovel rain. A Calgary friend always goes to a coin show in Orlando each year. I dare say most of the (elderly) Canadians down there are in Miami, though.

    Best,

    John

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