Space elevator
Mon, 2005-01-17 23:14 — admin
The goal is to achieve orbit at a very LOW cost.
One possible way of doing it is to use a space elevator.
Being a dream for years, it may come true in the next decades.
A wire, the essential element of the system, connects the Earth to geosynchronous orbit or any point above that altitude of 36'000 Km. An elevator goes up and down many times in order to add fibers to the wire and make transportation of payloads of many tons possible.
A wire made of usual materials, metals for exemple, is too heavy to use. It's no longer the case with the discovery of new materials: nanotubes of carbon.
50 times harder than steel, they are MUCH lighter. With such nanotubes, we couild build a light-weight wire...
http://www.spaceelevator.com
http://liftwatch.org
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm
http://flightprojects.msfc.nasa.gov/fd02_elev.html
One possible way of doing it is to use a space elevator.
Being a dream for years, it may come true in the next decades.
A wire, the essential element of the system, connects the Earth to geosynchronous orbit or any point above that altitude of 36'000 Km. An elevator goes up and down many times in order to add fibers to the wire and make transportation of payloads of many tons possible.
A wire made of usual materials, metals for exemple, is too heavy to use. It's no longer the case with the discovery of new materials: nanotubes of carbon.
50 times harder than steel, they are MUCH lighter. With such nanotubes, we couild build a light-weight wire...
http://www.spaceelevator.com
http://liftwatch.org
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm
http://flightprojects.msfc.nasa.gov/fd02_elev.html