Sunday, March 12, 2006 6:47:40 PM
Can't we add a space elevator to International Space Station??? http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/ISS_OVR/
Can we do it?
A critical and as-yet-realized component of a successful space elevator is a super lightweight, super strong material. This material will be used to create a composite ribbon upon which elevators will ride carrying cargo and people. Traveling to geostationary Earth orbit, at around 36,000 kilometers, the ribbon would be attached to a ground platform at the Equator. The end in space would be attached to a counterbalance mass, probably using the ribbon-deployment equipment, or perhaps even a captured asteroid. Electromagnetic propulsion is a candidate for launch and delivery, technology which has already been jump-started by current high-speed railway efforts. Another possiblity is laser propulsion, which you will read more about in our interviews, below.
No ribbon material exists today that meets the strength-to-weight requirements. However, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) look promising, since in one form they may be as much as 100 times as strong as steel, at 1/6th the weight. The problem with CNTs is that to date, nobody has figured out a way to either create them in the thousands of kilometer lengths necessary, or to use them to create a composite material that also meets the requirements. Several recent discoveries do however appear to indicate that a composite material may be available in the next few years.
There are other hurdles, such as propulsion, terrorist threats, and avoiding space debris, hurricanes, and lightening, which we cover in the interviews below. All of these hurdles appear to be dealt with using existing technologies and extensions of existing technologies, and achievable in the short-term.
In an article titled Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators by science writer Steve Price, we learn more about one writer's views and vision of the Space Elevator. "Yes, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard NASA's Millennium-Two Space Elevator. Your first stop will be the Lunar-level platform before we continue on to the New Frontier Space Colony development. The entire ride will take about 5 hours, so sit back and enjoy the trip. As we rise, be sure to watch outside the window as the curvature of the Earth becomes visible and the sky changes from deep blue to black, truly one of the most breathtaking views you will ever see!"
Explained in simple terms by Price "A space elevator is essentially a long cable extending from our planet's surface into space with its center of mass at geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), 35,786 km in altitude. Electromagnetic vehicles traveling along the cable could serve as a mass transportation system for moving people, payloads, and power between Earth and space."
When built as conceived, the space elevator is predicted to greatly reduce the Earth-to-orbit costs of materials, devices, and people. The cost-per-pound to move into space will drop from a current NASA rate of $10,000-$40,000, to a forecasted rate of less than $100 (Ed. some say as little at $10 per lb. in the not-to-distant future). Figure you and your luggage weight 200 pounds - that's $20,000, a bit less than the reported $20M Dennis Tito paid to become the world's first space tourist." Additional and larger elevators, built utilizing the first, would allow large-scale manned and commercial activities in space and reduce lift costs even further." says Los Alamos National Laboratory.
When asked to estimate when the space elevator would be built, Arthur C. Clarke replied "Probably about 50 years after everybody quits laughing!" With the rapid increase in our understanding of nanotubes, coupled with our ability to ramp up their production and separate them, the laughter is rapidly dying down.
To learn more, visit the Institute for Scientific Research, and see their animation. See also The Space Elevator
http://www.nanotech-now.com/products/nanonewsnow/issues/016/016.htm
Can we do it?
A critical and as-yet-realized component of a successful space elevator is a super lightweight, super strong material. This material will be used to create a composite ribbon upon which elevators will ride carrying cargo and people. Traveling to geostationary Earth orbit, at around 36,000 kilometers, the ribbon would be attached to a ground platform at the Equator. The end in space would be attached to a counterbalance mass, probably using the ribbon-deployment equipment, or perhaps even a captured asteroid. Electromagnetic propulsion is a candidate for launch and delivery, technology which has already been jump-started by current high-speed railway efforts. Another possiblity is laser propulsion, which you will read more about in our interviews, below.
No ribbon material exists today that meets the strength-to-weight requirements. However, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) look promising, since in one form they may be as much as 100 times as strong as steel, at 1/6th the weight. The problem with CNTs is that to date, nobody has figured out a way to either create them in the thousands of kilometer lengths necessary, or to use them to create a composite material that also meets the requirements. Several recent discoveries do however appear to indicate that a composite material may be available in the next few years.
There are other hurdles, such as propulsion, terrorist threats, and avoiding space debris, hurricanes, and lightening, which we cover in the interviews below. All of these hurdles appear to be dealt with using existing technologies and extensions of existing technologies, and achievable in the short-term.
In an article titled Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators by science writer Steve Price, we learn more about one writer's views and vision of the Space Elevator. "Yes, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard NASA's Millennium-Two Space Elevator. Your first stop will be the Lunar-level platform before we continue on to the New Frontier Space Colony development. The entire ride will take about 5 hours, so sit back and enjoy the trip. As we rise, be sure to watch outside the window as the curvature of the Earth becomes visible and the sky changes from deep blue to black, truly one of the most breathtaking views you will ever see!"
Explained in simple terms by Price "A space elevator is essentially a long cable extending from our planet's surface into space with its center of mass at geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), 35,786 km in altitude. Electromagnetic vehicles traveling along the cable could serve as a mass transportation system for moving people, payloads, and power between Earth and space."
When built as conceived, the space elevator is predicted to greatly reduce the Earth-to-orbit costs of materials, devices, and people. The cost-per-pound to move into space will drop from a current NASA rate of $10,000-$40,000, to a forecasted rate of less than $100 (Ed. some say as little at $10 per lb. in the not-to-distant future). Figure you and your luggage weight 200 pounds - that's $20,000, a bit less than the reported $20M Dennis Tito paid to become the world's first space tourist." Additional and larger elevators, built utilizing the first, would allow large-scale manned and commercial activities in space and reduce lift costs even further." says Los Alamos National Laboratory.
When asked to estimate when the space elevator would be built, Arthur C. Clarke replied "Probably about 50 years after everybody quits laughing!" With the rapid increase in our understanding of nanotubes, coupled with our ability to ramp up their production and separate them, the laughter is rapidly dying down.
To learn more, visit the Institute for Scientific Research, and see their animation. See also The Space Elevator
http://www.nanotech-now.com/products/nanonewsnow/issues/016/016.htm
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