Nanoyarn
Remember aerogel? No, of course you don't. Anyway, it happens to be that the same process is used to create nanotubes of C-60 (far easier to say than the reference to Bucky), by an extrusion process similar to that used to make cotton candy:
The nanotubes are created rapidly by squirting a carbon source, like ethanol, and an iron nanocatalyst through a hydrogen carrier, and into a furnace at 1,200 degrees Celsius.
A fine black "elastic smoke", called an aerogel, then forms using the iron in ferrocene as the catalyst, and starts to stick to the cooler wall in the furnace to form fibres.
A spindle then winds the aerogel fibres into a thread, at several centimetres per second.
A fine black "elastic smoke", called an aerogel, then forms using the iron in ferrocene as the catalyst, and starts to stick to the cooler wall in the furnace to form fibres.
A spindle then winds the aerogel fibres into a thread, at several centimetres per second.
Pair this with a rapid production system and economically viable model, and you've got a space exploration industry, one that can certainly make that promise of the space-elevator into a reality.
Even if it doesn't, the possibility of nanothread, or C60thread, is absolutely amazing: parachutes that weigh only a pound; humongous sails for Panamax type cargo ships; bulletproof tents; lightweight, almost invisible bras.
Mmm. Science!