TADA!!!
Let me present you with the space elevator!!!
But now, with increase in technology and information about the space, scientists are working on materials for the tether (The cable, like I earlier mentioned). They need strong and light material to build elevator and are now considering the use of carbon nanotubes or boron nitride nanotube based materials as the tensile element to design tether.
Economics. Yep, one of the most important concept in all the major projects.
A space elevator would be used as a substitute to modern day rockets. They're said to recude the cost and work-load used in sending rockets to space.
If they're designed to reduce the cost of sending in rockets to outer space, they must be considerably cheap.
Transfering an average rocket to a geostationary orbit (According to NASA) would be an estimate of about 450 million.
But with the space lift, it's just 220 USD per kg (For a normal launch as per 2,000 conventions) when compared to the whooping 25,000 USD per kg when using a rocket.
So, by all means, this project would be about 6.2 billion (According to the 2004, 55th International Astronomical Congress)
Let me present you with the space elevator!!!
Too cool to believe? Say what, it's gonna work.
Yep.
The space elevator as it's name says is a type of space-transportation system. The main component is a ribbon like cable called the tether anchored to the surface and going up into the space.Cool, huh?
What's a space elevator gonna be used for?
It's obviously gonna be used to transport objects from earth directly into space or orbit without having to worry about the fuel consumption in rockets.
Yep, that's right.
It's gonna have a cable attached to the surface near the equator and the other end would be beyond the geostationary orbit or like above 36,000 km altitude.
Gravity would be stronger at the lower end and the outward centrifugal force which is stronger in the upper end would result in the cable being help up, under tension and be stable over a single point on the Earth.
One deployed, the tether would be ascended repeatedly by mechanical means to orbit, and return to the surface from the orbit.
Yep.
The space elevator as it's name says is a type of space-transportation system. The main component is a ribbon like cable called the tether anchored to the surface and going up into the space.Cool, huh?
What's a space elevator gonna be used for?
It's obviously gonna be used to transport objects from earth directly into space or orbit without having to worry about the fuel consumption in rockets.
Yep, that's right.
It's gonna have a cable attached to the surface near the equator and the other end would be beyond the geostationary orbit or like above 36,000 km altitude.
Gravity would be stronger at the lower end and the outward centrifugal force which is stronger in the upper end would result in the cable being help up, under tension and be stable over a single point on the Earth.
One deployed, the tether would be ascended repeatedly by mechanical means to orbit, and return to the surface from the orbit.
Who first came up with the idea of a space elevator?
It was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.He proposed a free-standing tower from surface of Earth to the height of a geostationary orbit.But the structure of Tsiolkovsky would collapse under the immense pressure as it's weight would be supported from below. Since 1959, most ideas for space elevators focrused on purely tensile structures with a weight of the system to be help from above.But now, with increase in technology and information about the space, scientists are working on materials for the tether (The cable, like I earlier mentioned). They need strong and light material to build elevator and are now considering the use of carbon nanotubes or boron nitride nanotube based materials as the tensile element to design tether.
Are space elevators possible in celestial bodies across our solar system?
Let's say we colonise moon and mars.
They've got considerably less gravity.So, we don't have to use carbon nanotubes or boron nitride nanotubes over there.
We just have to work with substances which are capable of holding up the elevator without worrying about the high gravity.
They've got considerably less gravity.So, we don't have to use carbon nanotubes or boron nitride nanotubes over there.
We just have to work with substances which are capable of holding up the elevator without worrying about the high gravity.
Which substance can be used in the space elevators on bodies like Mars and Moon?
For locations in the solar system with weaker gravity than Earth's require materials with a lesser strength-to-density for the tether. Kevlar could be a possible choice as it is strong and light enough for the conditions in those planets.
What about the money used in the project?
Economics. Yep, one of the most important concept in all the major projects.
A space elevator would be used as a substitute to modern day rockets. They're said to recude the cost and work-load used in sending rockets to space.
If they're designed to reduce the cost of sending in rockets to outer space, they must be considerably cheap.
Transfering an average rocket to a geostationary orbit (According to NASA) would be an estimate of about 450 million.
But with the space lift, it's just 220 USD per kg (For a normal launch as per 2,000 conventions) when compared to the whooping 25,000 USD per kg when using a rocket.
So, by all means, this project would be about 6.2 billion (According to the 2004, 55th International Astronomical Congress)
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| Carbon Nanotubes for tether. |
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