A ride on a space elevator will probably be reminiscent of a hot air balloon flight - without the roar of nozzles, without a plume of furious flame. The Earth goes down smoothly. Houses are becoming smaller, roads are turning into barely noticeable threads, and the silvery ribbons of rivers are thinning. Finally, the lower, vain world is hidden in the clouds and the upper, transcendental world is revealed. The atmosphere has passed, behind the glass there is cosmic blackness. And the cabin slides higher and higher along a cable, invisible against the blue-green background of the planet and going into the bottomless void.
Tsiolkovsky also described a design that could connect the orbit with the surface of the Earth. In the early 1960s, the idea was developed by Yuri Artsutanov, and Arthur Clarke used it in the novel The Fountains of Paradise. “World of Fantasy” returns to the theme of the space elevator and tries to imagine how it should work and what is needed for it.
Geostationary orbit
Is it possible for a satellite to freeze motionless above the observer's head? If the Earth were motionless, as in the Ptolemaic system of the world, the answer would be “no” - after all, without centrifugal force, the satellite would not stay in orbit. But, as we know, the observer himself is not motionless, but rotates along with the planet. If the satellite’s orbital period is equal to a sidereal day (23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds), and its orbit is in the equatorial plane, the device will hover over the so-called “standing point.”
The orbit in which the satellite is stationary relative to its stationary point is called geostationary. And it is extremely important for space exploration. It is where most communications satellites are located, and communications are the main area of commercial use of space. Transmissions through a repeater hanging above the equator can be received on stationary “plates”.
There is also an idea to place a manned station in geostationary orbit. For what? Firstly, for the maintenance and repair of communication satellites. In order for satellites to serve for several more years, it is often only necessary to refuel the micromotors that provide orientation. solar panels and antennas. The manned station will be able to maneuver along the geostationary orbit, descend (at the same time its angular velocity will become higher than that of the “standing” satellites), catch up with the vehicle requiring maintenance and rise again. This will take no more fuel than a low-orbit station consumes when it overcomes friction with the rarefied atmosphere.
It would seem that the benefit is huge. But supplying such a remote outpost would be too expensive. Changing crews and sending transport ships will require launch vehicles five times heavier than those currently used. A much more attractive idea is to use a high-altitude station to build a space elevator.
Cables
What will happen if a cable is thrown down from a geostationary satellite towards the Earth? First, the Coriolis force will carry him forward. After all, it will receive the same speed as the satellite, but will be in a lower orbit, which means its angular speed will be higher. But after a while the cable will gain weight and hang vertically. The radius of rotation will decrease and the centrifugal force will no longer be able to balance the force of gravity. If you continue to etch the rope, sooner or later it will reach the surface of the planet.
To prevent the system's center of gravity from shifting, a counterweight is needed. Some people suggest using spent satellites or even a small asteroid as ballast. But there is more interesting option- etch the cable in the opposite direction, from the Earth. It will also straighten and stretch. But no longer under its own weight, but because of centrifugal force.
The second cable will be more useful than simple ballast. Cheap, rocket-free delivery of cargo into geostationary orbit is useful, but in itself will not pay for the cost of the elevator. The station at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers will become only a transfer point. Further, without energy consumption, accelerated by centrifugal force, the loads will move along the second cable. At a distance of 144,000 kilometers from Earth, their speed will exceed the second cosmic speed. The elevator will turn into a catapult, sending projectiles to the Moon, Venus and Mars using the energy of the planet’s rotation.
The problem is the cable, which must not break under its own weight, despite its fantastic length. Co steel rope this will happen already at a length of 60 kilometers (and perhaps much earlier, since defects are inevitable during weaving). You can avoid breaking if the thickness of the rope increases exponentially with height - after all, each subsequent section must withstand its own weight plus the weight of all previous ones. But the thought experiment will have to be interrupted: closer to the upper end, the cable will reach such a thickness that the iron reserves in earth's crust there simply isn't enough for him.
Even the strongest polyethylene “Dyneema”, from which body armor and parachute lines are made, is not suitable. It has a low density, with a cross-section of one square millimeter it can withstand a load of two tons and breaks under its own weight only at a length of 2500 kilometers. But the Dainima cable must have a mass of about 300,000 tons and a thickness of 10 meters at the upper end. It is almost impossible to deliver such cargo into orbit, and the elevator can only be built from above.
Hope is given by carbon nanotubes discovered in 1991, which are theoretically capable of being 30 times stronger than Kevlar (in practice, polyethylene rope is still stronger). If optimistic estimates of their potential are confirmed, it will be possible to produce a tape with a constant cross-section of 36,000 km in length, weighing 270 tons and carrying capacity of 10 tons. And if even pessimistic estimates are confirmed, an elevator with a cable 1 millimeter thick near the Earth and 25 centimeters in orbit (mass 900 tons without taking into account the counterweight) will no longer be science fiction.
Lift
Creating a lift for a space elevator is a non-trivial task. To make a cable you only need to work out new technology. A mechanism capable of climbing this cable and delivering cargo into orbit has yet to be invented. The “earthly” method, when the cabin is attached to a rope wound on a drum, does not stand up to criticism: the mass of the load will be negligible compared to the mass of the rope. The lift will have to climb on its own.
It would seem that this is not difficult to implement. The cable is clamped between the rollers, and the machine creeps up, held by friction. But this is only in science fiction a space elevator - a tower or a mighty column within which the cabin moves. In reality, a barely visible thread will reach the surface of the Earth, at best: a narrow ribbon. The contact area of the rollers with the support will be negligible, which means that the friction cannot be great.
There is one more limitation - the mechanism must not damage the cable. Alas, although nanofabric is incredibly tear-resistant, this does not mean that it is difficult to cut or fray. Replacing a broken cable will be very difficult. And if it bursts high altitude, the centrifugal force will carry the station far into space, destroying the entire project. To emergency situation To keep the system's center of gravity in orbit, small mines will have to be placed along the entire length of the cable. If one of the branches breaks, they will immediately shoot off an equal part of the opposite branch.
There are a lot of other interesting problems that need to be solved. For example, the divergence of lifts moving towards each other and the rescue of passengers from “stuck” cabins.
The most complex problem- power supply for the lift. The engine will require a lot of energy. The capacity of batteries, both existing and those being developed, is not enough. The supply of chemical fuel and oxidizer will turn the lift into a multi-stage system of tanks and engines. This wonderful design, by the way, does not need an expensive cable - it exists right now and is called a “booster rocket”.
The easiest way is to build contact wires into the cable. But the cable will not withstand the weight of the metal wiring, which means that the nanotubes will have to be “taught” to conduct electricity. Autonomous power supply in the form of solar panels or a radioisotope source is rather weak: according to the most optimistic estimate, the rise with them will take decades. A nuclear reactor with a better mass-to-power ratio would take years to get the cabin into orbit. But it itself is too heavy and will also require two or three refuelings along the way.
Perhaps, the best option- this is the transfer of energy using a laser or microwave gun that irradiates the receiving device of the elevator. But it is not without its shortcomings. At the current level of technology, only a minority of the energy received can be converted into electricity. The rest will turn into heat, which will be very problematic to remove in an airless space.
If a cable becomes damaged, it will be difficult to get repairmen to the damaged area. And if it breaks, it’s too late (frame from the game Halo 3: ODST)
Radiation protection
Bad news for those who want to ride light: the elevator will pass through the Earth's radiation belts. The planet's magnetic field captures solar wind particles - protons and electrons - and prevents dangerous radiation from reaching the surface. As a result, the Earth is surrounded in the equatorial plane by two colossal tori, inside of which charged particles are concentrated. Even spacecraft try to avoid these areas.
The first belt, the proton trap, begins at an altitude of 500–1300 kilometers and ends at an altitude of 7000 kilometers. Behind it, up to an altitude of approximately 13,000 kilometers, there is a relatively safe area. But even further, between 13 and 20 thousand kilometers, the outer radiation belt of those with great energy electrons.
Orbital stations rotate below the radiation belts. Manned spacecraft crossed them only during lunar expeditions, spending only a few hours on it. But the lift will need about a day to overcome each of the belts. This means that the cabin will have to be equipped with serious anti-radiation protection.
Mooring tower
The base of a space elevator is usually imagined as a complex of above-ground structures located somewhere in Ecuador, the jungles of Gabon, or an atoll in Oceania. But the most obvious solution is not always the best. Once released from orbit, the tether can be secured to the deck of a ship or to the top of a colossal tower. The sea vessel will evade hurricanes, which can, if not break off the elevator, which has considerable windage, then throw off the lifts from it.
A tower 12-15 kilometers high will protect the cable from the violence of the atmosphere, and will also somewhat shorten its length. At first glance, the benefit seems insignificant, but if the mass of the cable depends exponentially on its length, then even a tiny gain will allow you to achieve noticeable savings. In addition, the mooring tower makes it possible to approximately double the system's carrying capacity by eliminating the thinnest and most vulnerable section of the thread.
However, it is possible to erect a building of such height only on the pages of science fiction novels. Theoretically, such a tower can be built from a material with the hardness of diamond. In practice, no foundation will support its weight.
Nevertheless, it is possible to build a mooring tower at a height of many kilometers. Only building material It is not concrete that should serve, but gas: helium-filled balloons. Such a tower will be a “float”, the lower part of which is immersed in the atmosphere and, due to the Archimedean force, supports the upper part, which is already in an almost airless space. This structure can be built from below, from individual, small-sized and completely replaceable blocks. There are no fundamental obstacles to the “inflatable tower” reaching a height of 100 or even 160 kilometers.
Even without a space elevator, a "floating tower" makes sense. Like a power plant - if the outer shell is covered with solar panels. Like a repeater serving an area with a radius of one and a half thousand kilometers. Finally, as an observatory and base for research upper layers atmosphere.
And if you don’t aim for a height of hundreds of kilometers, you can use a ring-shaped balloon “anchored” at an altitude of 40 kilometers as a berthing station. A giant airship (or several airships located one above the other) will unload the elevator cable, taking on its weight in the last tens of kilometers.
But the most significant advantages would come from a moving platform in the form of a high-altitude airship flying over the equator at a speed of 360 km/h (which is quite achievable when the engine is powered by solar panels and nuclear reactor). In this case, the satellite does not need to hover over one point. Its orbit will be located 7,000 kilometers below the geostationary one, which will reduce the cable length by 20% and the mass by 2.5 times (taking into account the benefits from the use of the “mooring tower”). It remains to solve the problem of delivering cargo to the airship itself.
Gravity catapult
Space elevator- the most ambitious, but not the only project using cables to launch spacecraft. Some other plans can be realized at the current level of technology.
What, for example, will happen if a load tied by a cable is pushed “up” from the shuttle hanging in orbit, away from the Earth? According to the law of conservation of momentum, the ship itself will shift to a lower orbit. And it will start to fall. The load, dragging the unwinding cable along with it, will first be deflected backward by the Coriolis force, but then rush “up”. Indeed, with an increase in the radius of rotation, gravity will weaken, and the centrifugal force will increase. The system will work like a trebuchet - an ancient throwing machine. The shuttle will take on the role of the cage with stones, the cable will turn into a sling, and the axis will be the general center of mass of the system, which is in a state of weightlessness in the initial orbit of the ship. Having swung relative to the axis, the cable will straighten in the vertical direction, stretch and throw out the load.
The difference between a gravitational catapult and a space elevator is that the role of the “cage” in the elevator is played by the planet itself, “falling” to an indistinguishably small height relative to the center of mass of the “Earth-projectile” system. In this case, the kinetic energy of the shuttle will be spent. The ship will transfer part of its momentum to the cargo - say, an automatic interplanetary station - will lose speed and altitude and enter the dense layers of the atmosphere. Which is also good, since usually in order to deorbit the shuttle has to be slowed down by its engines, burning fuel.
With the help of a cable catapult, the shuttle will be able to send 2-3 times more cargo to Mars or Venus than in the traditional way. Which, however, still will not allow the shuttle system to compete with a conventional launch vehicle in terms of efficiency. After all, for a “catapult” launch it will be necessary to launch not only the payload, but also a gigantic cable with a “counterweight” into orbit. Another thing is that the counterweight for the catapult can be found directly in orbit - for example, a transport ship that has completed its mission will do. In addition, there is a mass of “space debris” revolving around our planet, which will have to be collected in the foreseeable future.
* * *
The problems associated with the construction of a space elevator are far from resolved. A cost-effective alternative to rockets and shuttles will not appear soon. But on this moment“staircase to emptiness” is the most fantastic and large-scale project, which science is working on. Even if the structure, whose length is a dozen times the diameter of the planet, turns out to be ineffective, it will mark the beginning of a new stage in human history. The same “exit from the cradle” that Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky spoke about more than a century ago.
In the 21st century, elevators are no longer just mechanisms that lift loads to a certain height. With increasing speed and load capacity, elevators are becoming more of vehicles.
As an example, we can offer the automobile giant from Japan, Mitsubishi. Its engineers developed an elevator capable of rising at a speed of 60 km/h. But as you will now see, this is not the limit.
Of course, such elevators are designed for the tallest buildings in the world - skyscrapers. And it doesn’t matter in which country the building is located, the main thing is that the elevator works. How else can you raise people to a height of 50 floors? And at 100? If the rate of ascent remains the same, then time will flow incredibly slowly. Therefore, the capacity of elevators is increasing every day.
The best in this matter are the Japanese. The Obayashi Corporation, after some reflection, announced that for it skyscrapers are far from the limit. The company's engineers are creating an elevator into space. Creation time: about 40 years. Most likely, by 2050 the grandiose construction will be completed.
It is planned to make the elevator cabin as spacious as possible in order to lift several dozen people. People will rise until they find themselves in space. Technologically this is possible. After all, engineers from Japan have developed a special cable made of carbon nanotubes. This material is almost two dozen times stronger and more durable than the strongest steel in the world, you can watch documentaries about this online. Moreover, the elevator will rise at a speed of 200 km/h, which means reaching a height of 36 thousand kilometers in just a week.
It is difficult to say who will allocate money for such a project. After all, the development of a space elevator has been going on for many years, starting with theories about this at the beginning of the 20th century.
Usually, such ambitious projects are taken over by NASA employees, but now they, like the United States as a whole, have huge problems in the economic sphere.
Will the Japanese be able to pull off such a mega-project? Will it be able to pay for itself and bring real profit? We will not be able to answer these questions. However, the very fact that the Japanese think in terms of tens of years ahead once again reminds us that planning is not the most strong trait Russian mentality.
As long as science is popularized in Japan this way, there is no need to worry about their technological sector, which is closely connected with marketing and economics, which in turn feeds science.
The Japanese will build an elevator into space by 2050
This device will be capable of delivering people and cargo to space station, which will also appear in the future
The Japanese company Obayashi announced its plans to build an elevator into space by 2050. The Japanese promise that it will be able to rise to an altitude of 60,000 miles and deliver people and cargo to a space station, which will also appear in the distant future. ABC News reports.
Builders also guarantee that the new elevator will be safer and cheaper than the space shuttle. Currently, sending one kilogram of cargo by shuttle costs approximately $22,000. And the Obayashi sci-fi device will be able to transport up to 200 kilograms for the same money.
The management of the construction company believes that the emergence of this transport system will become possible with the advent of carbon nanomaterials. According to Obayashi executive Yoji Ishikawa, the elevator cables will be futuristic nanotubes that are a hundred times stronger than those made from steel. Right now we are not able to create long cables. We can still make 3-centimeter nanotubes, but by 2030 we will succeed, he said, adding that the elevator will be able to deliver up to 30 people to the space station in just a week.
Obayashi believes its elevator will revolutionize space travel. The company involves students from all universities in Japan to work on this project. She also hopes to collaborate with foreign scientists.
Japanese elevators are considered one of the best in the world. A Japanese company is also currently developing the fastest elevator on Earth. Hitachi will provide it to one of the Chinese skyscrapers. This elevator will be capable of reaching speeds of up to 72 kilometers per hour and rising to a height of 440 meters, that is, up to the 95th floor.
About fifty years ago, people believed that by our time space flights would be as accessible as traveling on public transport back in their day. Unfortunately, these hopes did not come true. But perhaps already in 2050 it will be possible to get into space by elevator - the concept of this vehicle was presented by the Japanese company Obayashi Corporation.
Elevators are different! There is a regular elevator, there is an elevator in the bathroom, there is an elevator inside an aquarium, and the Obayashi Corporation promises to launch an elevator into space in a few decades! In fact, several scientific and engineering groups around the world, supervised by the NASA space agency, are engaged in the creation of such technologies. However, according to the Japanese, this process occurs very slowly, so Obayashi Corporation decided to independently develop a space elevator.
The main achievement of NASA competitions is that they proved the very possibility of creating a space elevator. Obayashi Corporation promises to launch this unusual vehicle by 2050!
This elevator will lead from Earth to the space station, located at an altitude of 36 thousand kilometers. But the length of the cable will be 96 thousand kilometers. This is necessary in order to create an orbital counterweight. In the future, it can be used to extend the elevator route.
News Scientists are ready to build a diamond elevator into space you can read on your phones, iPad, iPhone and Android and other devices.
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have discovered a way to create ultra-thin diamond nanothreads that would be ideal for lifting a space elevator to the Moon. Experts have previously suggested that diamond nanothreads could be an ideal material for creating a cable for an elevator into space.
The team, led by chemistry professor John Bedding, subjected isolated benzene molecules to alternating pressure cycles in a liquid environment. The specialists were amazed at the result, when the carbon atoms assembled into an ordered and neatly constructed chain. Scientists have created nanothreads 20 thousand times smaller than human hair. However, it is diamond chains that may be the strongest material on Earth.
More recently, a team from Queensland University of Technology in Australia simulated the layout of diamond nanothreads using large-scale molecular dynamics studies. Physicists have come to the conclusion that such a material is much more flexible in the future than previously thought, if the molecular structure is chosen correctly.
Scientists assumed that elongating the diamond thread could ultimately make the resulting material very brittle, but research has proven the opposite. Therefore, carbon nanofilaments have a great chance of being used in space, including as a cable for an elevator to the Moon, the concept of which was first proposed back in 1895.
Sources: spaceon.ru, www.bfm.ru, dlux.ru, news.ifresh.ws, mirkosmosa.ru
Preiser's Hut - Anomalous Zone
Guardians of the Underworld - Curse of the Tomb
Time jumps
Assassins: Suicide Killers
Tiahuanaco
Artificial gravity station
In Russia, it was decided to create a private space station, which will have compartments based on artificial gravity. All stages of its construction are planned...
UFOs on icons and frescoes
In southern Yugoslavia, in Kosovo Metohija, between the towns of Pec and Djakovica, stands the Decani monastery. Photographs were taken using a telephoto lens...
Iguazu - big water
Iguazu is one of the most magnificent waterfalls in the world. It is located between Argentina and Brazil. Its main part is located on the side...
UFO sighting
Attempts to understand the essence of UFOs are constantly being made, and among the various areas of analysis of unidentified objects, a special place is occupied by the time in which...
Kola superdeep well. Sounds from the depths of the Earth
The Kola superdeep well is the deepest in the world and reaches 12262 m. The next deepest was...
A house with an attic is a city dweller's dream
Almost everyone modern man dreams of having his own wooden house. After all natural material, is valued more than ever in our time. ...
Sunny Thailand
Holidays in Thailand are chosen by many tourists from the most various countries. The most interesting resort city is Pattaya. It is loved by Russian tourists, so the service...
Surface tension of water
The similarity between the structure of cell protoplasm and ice is amazing. The structure of the latter is ideally integrated with the structure of biomolecules. Living molecules fit so organically into...
It's funny, but a person has a tail. Until a certain period. It is known...
Despite the crisis and the war of sanctions in civilized economically developed countries There is great interest in astronautics. This is facilitated by advances in the development of rocket science and in the study of near-Earth space, the planets of the solar system and its periphery using spacecraft. More and more states are joining the space race. China and India loudly declare their ambitions to explore the Universe. Monopoly is becoming a thing of the past government agencies Russia, USA and Europe for flights beyond the earth's atmosphere. Businesses are showing increasing interest in transporting people and cargo into space orbit. Companies have appeared that are headed by enthusiasts who are in love with space. They are developing both new launch vehicles and new technologies that will make it possible to make a leap in the exploration of the Universe. Ideas that were considered unfeasible just yesterday are being seriously considered. And what was considered the fruit of the fevered imagination of science fiction writers is now one of possible projects to be implemented in the near future.
One such project could be a space elevator.
How realistic is this? BBC journalist Nick Fleming tried to answer this question in his article “Elevator in Orbit: Science Fiction or a Matter of Time?”, which is brought to the attention of those interested in space.
Elevator to orbit: science fiction or a matter of time?
Thanks to space elevators capable of delivering people and cargo from the surface of the Earth into orbit, humanity could abandon the use of environmentally harmful rockets. But creating such a device is not easy, as a BBC Future correspondent found out.
When it comes to forecasts regarding the development of new technologies, many consider the authority of millionaire Elon Musk, one of the leaders in the non-governmental research sector, who came up with the idea of the Hyperloop - a high-speed pipeline passenger service project between Los Angeles and San Francisco (travel time takes only 35 minutes). But there are projects that even Musk considers practically impossible. For example, the space elevator project.
"It's too technical difficult task. It is unlikely that a space elevator can be created in reality,” Musk said at a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last fall. In his opinion, it is easier to build a bridge between Los Angeles and Tokyo than to build an elevator into orbit.
The idea of sending people and cargo into space inside capsules sliding upward along a giant cable held in place by the Earth's rotation is not new. Similar descriptions can be found in the works of science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke. However, this concept has not yet been considered feasible in practice. Perhaps the confidence that we are capable of solving this extremely difficult technical problem, - is it really just self-deception?
Space elevator enthusiasts believe it is entirely possible to build one. In their opinion, rockets powered by toxic fuel are an outdated, dangerous for humans and nature, and excessively expensive form of space transport. The proposed alternative is essentially a railway line laid into orbit - a super-strong cable, one end of which is fixed to the Earth's surface, and the other to a counterweight located in geosynchronous orbit and therefore constantly hanging above one point on the Earth's surface. Electrical devices moving up and down along a cable would be used as elevator cabins. With space elevators, the cost of sending cargo into space could be reduced to $500 per kilogram - a figure that is now approximately $20,000 per kilogram, according to a recent report by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
Space elevator enthusiasts point out the harmfulness of technologies for launching rockets into orbit
"This technology opens up phenomenal opportunities; it will provide humanity with access to solar system" says Peter Swan, president of the International Space Elevator Consortium ISEC and co-author of the IAA report. “I think the first elevators will be automatic, and in 10 to 15 years we will have six to eight of these devices that are safe enough to transport people.”
Origins of the idea
The difficulty is that the height of such a structure must be up to 100,000 km - this is more than two earth equators. Accordingly, the structure must be strong enough to support its own weight. There is simply no material on Earth with the necessary strength characteristics.
But some scientists think that this problem can be solved already in the current century. Large Japanese construction company announced that it plans to build a space elevator by 2050. And American researchers recently created a new diamond-like material based on nanofilaments of compressed benzene, the calculated strength of which could make a space elevator a reality within many of us’s lifetimes.
The concept of a space elevator was first considered in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. A Russian scientist, inspired by the example of a recently built Eiffel Tower in Paris, began researching the physical aspects of building a giant tower that could be used to deliver spaceships into orbit without the use of rockets. Later, in 1979, this topic was mentioned by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in his novel The Fountains of Paradise - his main character is building a space elevator similar in design to the projects currently being discussed.
The question is how to bring the idea to life. “I love the audacity of the space elevator concept,” says Kevin Fong, founder of the Center for Altitude, Space and Extreme Medicine at University College London. “I can understand why people find it so attractive: the ability to travel to low Earth orbits inexpensively and safely opens up the entire inner solar system for us.”
Security issues
However, building a space elevator won't be easy. "To begin with, the cable must be made of super strong, but flexible material, having the necessary weight and density characteristics to support the weight of vehicles moving on it, and at the same time capable of withstanding constant lateral impacts. “Right now, that material simply doesn’t exist,” says Fong. - In addition, the construction of such an elevator will require the most intensive use of spaceships and the most large quantity exits to open space throughout the history of mankind." 
According to him, safety issues cannot be ignored: “Even if we manage to overcome the enormous technical difficulties associated with building the elevator, the resulting structure will be a giant stretched string, driving spacecraft out of orbit and constantly being bombarded by space debris.”
Will tourists someday be able to use an elevator to travel into space?
Over the past 12 years, three detailed designs for a space elevator have been published around the world. The first is described by Brad Edwards and Eric Westling in the book “Space Elevators,” published in 2003. This elevator is designed to transport 20 tons of cargo using the energy of laser installations located on Earth. The estimated cost of transportation is $150 per kilogram, and the project cost is estimated at $6 billion.
In 2013, the IAA Academy developed this concept into own project, which provides increased protection of elevator cabins from atmospheric phenomena up to an altitude of 40 km, upon reaching which the movement of elevator cabins into orbit should occur due to solar energy. The cost of transportation is $500 per kilogram, and the cost of building the first two such elevators is $13 billion.
Early space elevator concepts included a variety of possible solutions problems of a space counterweight designed to keep the cable in a taut position - including the proposal to use an asteroid captured and delivered to the desired orbit for these purposes. The IAA report notes that such a solution may someday be implemented, but it is not possible in the near future.
Drogue"
To support a cable weighing 6,300 tons, the counterweight must weigh 1,900 tons. It can be partially formed from spaceships and other auxiliary devices, which will be used to build the elevator. It is also possible to use nearby spent satellites by towing them into a new orbit.
They also propose making the “anchor” that attaches the cable to the Earth, in the form of a floating platform the size of a large oil tanker or aircraft carrier, and placing it near the equator in order to increase its bearing capacity. An area 1000 km west of the Galapagos Islands, which is rarely subject to hurricanes, tornadoes and typhoons, is proposed as the optimal location for the “anchor”.
Space debris could be used as a counterweight at the top end of a space elevator cable
Obayashi Corporation is one of the five largest construction companies Japan - last year announced plans to build a space elevator over robust construction, along which automatic booths on magnetic levitation would move. Similar technology used on high-speed railways. A stronger cable is needed because the Japanese elevator is supposed to be used to transport people. The cost of the project is estimated at $100 billion, while the cost of transporting cargo into orbit can be $50-100 per kilogram.
While there will undoubtedly be many technical challenges in building such an elevator, the only structural element that cannot yet be built is the cable itself, says Swan: “The only technological problem that needs to be solved is finding the right material to make the cable. That's all.” we can build the rest now."
Diamond threads
Currently, the most suitable cable material is carbon nanotubes, created in laboratory conditions in 1991. These cylindrical structures have a tensile strength of 63 gigapascals, that is, they are about 13 times stronger than the strongest steel.
The maximum achievable length of such nanotubes is constantly increasing - in 2013, Chinese scientists managed to increase it to half a meter. The authors of the IAA report predict that the kilometer will be reached by 2022, and by 2030. It will be possible to create nanotubes of suitable length for use in a space elevator.
Meanwhile, last September, a new, ultra-strong material emerged: in a paper published in the materials science journal Nature Materials, a team of scientists led by chemistry professor John Bedding of Pennsylvania State University reported producing super-thin “diamond nanothreads” in the laboratory that could even stronger than carbon nanotubes.
Scientists have compressed liquid benzene under 200,000 times atmospheric pressure. Then the pressure was slowly reduced, and it turned out that the benzene atoms rearranged, creating a highly ordered structure of pyramidal tetrahedra.
As a result, super-thin threads were formed, very similar in structure to diamond. Although it is impossible to directly measure their strength due to their ultra-small size, theoretical calculations indicate that these threads may be stronger than the strongest synthetic materials available.
Risk reduction
"If we learn to create diamond nanothreads or carbon nanotubes of the required length and with necessary qualities, you can be pretty sure they'll be strong enough to be used in a space elevator," says Bedding.
However, even if you manage to find suitable material for a cable, assembling the structure will be very difficult. Most likely, difficulties will arise related to ensuring the safety of the project, the necessary financing and the proper management of competing interests. However, this does not stop Swan.
One way or another, humanity is striving for space and is ready to spend a lot of money on it
“Of course, we will encounter great difficulties, but problems had to be solved during the construction of the first transcontinental railway[in the US], and during the construction of the Panama and Suez Canals,” he says. - It will take a lot of time and money, but, as with any major project, you just need to solve problems as they arise, while gradually reducing possible risks."
Even Elon Musk is not ready to categorically dismiss the possibility of creating a space elevator. “I don’t think this idea is feasible today, but if someone can prove otherwise, that would be great,” he said at a conference at MIT last year.
The Japanese company Obayashi Corporation presented a concept vehicle for space.
This will be a space elevator from Earth to orbit. The elevator is planned to be launched by 2050.
And about fifty years ago, people thought that at the beginning of the 21st century, space flights would be available to everyone and several times. Unfortunately, it is not.
This elevator will lead from Earth to the space station, located at an altitude of 36 thousand kilometers.
But the length of the cable will be 96 thousand kilometers. This is necessary in order to create an orbital counterweight.
In the future, it can be used to extend the elevator route.
The elevator will be able to move at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour and carry up to 30 people at a time.
So this vehicle will need about 8 days to reach the final goal.
The space station will also house laboratories and living quarters.
Sounds nice. But there are doubts about the impracticality of such a design.
1. There is no material strong enough for the cable
The load on the cable can exceed 100,000 kg/m, so the material for its manufacture must have extremely high strength to resist stretching, and at the same time very low density. While there is no such material, even carbon nanotubes, which are now considered the most durable and elastic materials on the planet, are not suitable. Unfortunately, the technology for producing them is just beginning to be developed. So far, it has been possible to obtain tiny pieces of material: the longest nanotube that has been created is a couple of centimeters in length and several nanometers in width. Whether it will ever be possible to make a long enough cable out of this is still unknown.
2. Susceptibility to hazardous vibrations
The cable will be susceptible to unpredictable gusts of solar wind - under its influence it will bend, and this will negatively affect the stability of the elevator. Micromotors can be attached to the cable as stabilizers, but this measure will create additional difficulties in terms of Maintenance structures. In addition, this will make it difficult for special cabins, the so-called “climbers,” to move along the cable. The cable will most likely come into resonance with them.
3. Coriolis force
The cable and the “climbers” are motionless relative to the surface of the Earth. But in relation to the center of the Earth, the object will move at a speed of 1,700 km/h on the surface and 10,000 km/h in orbit. Accordingly, the “climbers” must be given this speed when launching. The “climber” accelerates in a direction perpendicular to the cable, and because of this the cable will swing like a pendulum. At the same time, a force arises, trying to tear our cable away from the Earth. The force is inversely proportional to the deflection of the cable and directly proportional to the speed of lifting the load and its mass. Thus, the Coriolis force prevents the rapid lifting of loads into geostationary orbit. The Coriolis force can be combated by simply launching two “climbers” at the same time - from Earth and from orbit, but then the force between the two loads will stretch the cable even more. As an option - a painfully slow climb on caterpillar tracks.
4. Satellites and space debris
Over the past 50 years, humanity has launched many objects into space - useful and not so useful. Either the elevator builders will have to find and remove all this (which is impossible, given the number of useful satellites or orbital telescopes), or provide a system that protects the object from collisions. The cable is theoretically motionless, so any body rotating around the Earth will sooner or later collide with it. In addition, the collision speed will be almost equal to the rotation speed of this body, so that great damage will be caused to the cable. The cable cannot be maneuvered, and it is long, so collisions will be frequent. How to deal with this is not yet clear. Scientists are talking about building an orbital space laser to burn garbage, but this is completely out of the realm of science fiction.
5. Social and environmental risks
The space elevator may well become the target of a terrorist attack. A successful demolition operation will cause enormous damage and may even bury the entire project, so at the same time as the elevator, you will have to build a round-the-clock defense around it. Environmentalists believe that the cable, paradoxically, can shift the earth's axis. The cable will be rigidly fixed in orbit, and any movement of it at the top will be reflected on Earth. By the way, can you imagine what will happen if it suddenly breaks? Thus, it is very difficult to implement such a project on Earth. And now good news: This will work on the Moon. The gravitational force on the satellite is much less, and there is virtually no atmosphere. An anchor can be created in the Earth's gravity field, and a cable from the Moon will pass through the Lagrange point - thus, we get a communication channel between the planet and its natural satellite. Such a cable favorable conditions will be able to transport about 1000 tons of cargo per day into earth orbit. The material, of course, will need to be super-strong, but you won’t have to invent anything fundamentally new. True, the length of the “lunar” elevator will have to be about 190,000 km due to an effect called the Gomanov trajectory.
