To date the only way to get people and cargo into space is by the sheer, brute force of strapping whatever you want up there to a rocket or two and blasting off on the power of a harnessed explosion. This may not be the case in the future, though, if NASA and a group of entrepreneurs get their way.
Their vision is stark in its apparent simplicity, a cable car to the stars, and yet the realisation of such a device is far removed from the seemingly low-tech concept itself. In fact, such is the complexities in the design and manufacture of such a device that, if it ever should see the light of day, such a method of space transport is at least a decade away.
The initial concept of a space cable car, or elevator, began back in 1999 when a preliminary NASA study came to the conclusion that such a device was feasible. However, it was not until earlier this year that the concept gained some momentum with US company Liftport managing to send a robot device up a cable to a height of 1.6 km (the cable being held taught by helium-filled balloons).
Now the competition is on, with a number of US and European companies undertaking research into possible lightweight cables that would have the emense tensile strength to achieve the dizzying heights of lower orbit - to put this into perspective, this will require a cable that will be an astonishing 36,000km in length.
Space rockets could soon become
a but a distant memory.
As presently envisaged, the cable will be tethered to a platform that is anchored to the sea bed with the other side of the cable linking through to the receiving space port - which will be placed in orbit below an asteroid to which the cable will be attached so as to facilitate the cable’s constant tension, even when under load.
Propelling the elevator could come from a traction devices attached directly to the cable, however, as this would place extra strains on the cable itself other means of propulsion are being looked into, such as shining lasers from the sea platform against plates attached to the elevator itself. Either ways, the elevator, even if moving at 2000 kmh, would still take eighteen hours to get to the receiving station.
If you would like to know more about this fascinating story, further information can be obtained via this link.
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