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Published online 22 May 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060522-1
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The space elevator: going down?
Study shows that proposed carbon nanotube cables won't hold up.
Is it possible to make a cable for a space elevator out of carbon nanotubes? Not anytime soon, if ever, says Nicola Pugno of the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. Pugno's calculations show that inevitable defects in the nanotubes mean that such a cable simply wouldn't be strong enough.
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