Abstract – Noumenia Process: Challenges
Second of Five. Again, please post comments (either here, or tweet them to me: @mlaine) Thanks.
Take care. mjl
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Thousands of pages have been written regarding the Hardware aspect of building an Elevator to Space. But that is only one of five essential parts. Despite the deep interconnection between the “fashionable” Hardware element and the others four, these additional elements have been virtually ignored. These essential parts are: Hardware, Outreach, Business, Framework and Temporal. By identifying the key issues in the Challenges of Space Elevator development, the solutions can begin to grow in a coordinated fashion.
The set of Challenges for a project with the enormity of the Space Elevator is usually under-appreciated. In Hardware, the first level is known as Science/Discovery, this is where most of the public and research attention is focused and where the Space Elevator “conversation” tends to stick. In Outreach, the main issues lie in making the connections and gaining active involvement. For the Business part, a valid pricing model is very important; as is an in-depth analysis of Space Elevator cost-effectiveness (complete with a cost/benefit analysis and a credible and executable financing plan) – none of which exist. In the topic of Framework, things like insuring a space elevator is one of many many valid concerns. Finally in Temporal, this is the need for a constant, real-time, and objective, assessment of all Challenges and the ability to make forecasts. This ‘Challenges’ tool is a sub-level of the more encompassing Noumenia Process. It is a simple tool, but the task is ongoing: Make a list of the Challenges and their components and then add, remove and adapt problems/issues as things change.
The Challenges and their sub-components are paradigm constructs of the Noumenia Process; valuable in their ability to provide a tool to identify problems. These problems are many, and can be fluid, but this process is the best tool available for identifying the issues. By using these Challenges, the total sum of all the issues that span this project are covered and the relationship between them taken into account. A short example list has been developed for this paper, however an exhaustive list must be developed. It is hoped that this conference will provide a venue to expand this list. This is a very important tool for the future development and implementation of an Elevator to Space. It is a “problems identification tool”, not a “problems solving tool”.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:46 am
- others four -> other four
- “these additional elements” but the next sentence lists all 5, not just the additional four. Slightly confusing, but okay.
- some sentences and phrases are darker (like, most are grayish and a few are black) than others. Check your formatting for consistency before submitting.
- “none of which exist”: you are only referring to two things (since the other two things in that sentence were in parentheses). “neither of which exist” _might_ fit better.
- “Finally in Temporal…”
— maybe remove the ‘this’ right after ‘Temporal’, it sounds a little awkward
— remove the comma after ‘objective’
- “adapt problems/issues”, I think you meant “adapt to problems/issues”
- I don’t think either instance of semicolon is proper here. In both cases, you’re continuing the thought rather than starting a new, related thought. Both sentences might flow a little smoother with commas instead of semicolons.
- two more instances where punctuation should be inside the quotes, not after them (a comma and a period, both in the last sentence).
- “By using these Challenges, the total sum of all the issues that span this project are covered and the relationship between them taken into account.”
— I think the sentence reads a little smoother without the comma
— I had a hard time parsing this sentence, and had to read it several times. Maybe I’m just tired? I don’t have any suggestions, though.