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Topic: Space elevator

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Orbital tower

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Geostationary orbit

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Space Shuttle program

Tether propulsion

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Space Lift

In the News (Mon 23 Nov 09)

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	Space Elevator: Momentum Building
		At the third annual international conference on the space elevator being held in Washington, D.C., scientists and engineers are tackling hurdles that must be overcome for the concept to, quite literally, get off the ground.
		He is a leading authority on the space elevator concept, and is moderator for this week’s event.
		Edwards is quick to run down what’s up on the space elevator challenges, from carbon nanotube technology, power beaming, climber hardware to space debris impacts on the ribbon, health and safety issues, as well as cost, politics and regulations.
	www.space.com /businesstechnology/space_elevator_040629.html (793 words)

	Space elevator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		A space elevator cannot be an elevator in the typical sense (with moving cables) due to the need for the cable to be significantly wider at the center than the tips.
		However, most space elevator designs call for the use of multiple parallel cables separated from each other by struts, with sufficient margin of safety that severing just one or two strands still allows the surviving strands to hold the elevator's entire weight while repairs are performed.
		Space elevators have high capital cost but low operating expenses, so they make the most economic sense in a situation where it would be used over a long period of time to handle very large amounts of payload.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Space_elevator (8598 words)

	The Space Elevator
		One of the problems inhibiting the development of a space elevator is that the steel cables commonly used for elevators are too heavy and not strong enough.
		The ground station for the space elevator is a recycled offshore oil-drilling platform.
		Space debris and micrometeors could puncture cables and lead to other catastrophes, yet researchers are confident that widening the cables at specific altitudes could overcome this problem.
	www.seed.slb.com /en/scictr/watch/elevator/build.htm (604 words)

	The UnMuseum - The Space Elevator
		They estimated that a space elevator could be built in about 50 years if progress on technological advances continued as expected.
		One concern to the safety of any space elevator is the amount of junk currently in orbit that might collide with the ribbon.
		If such a space elevator can be built, it would open space to all kinds of development that today is just too expensive.
	www.unmuseum.org /spaceelevator.htm (1342 words)

	IEEE Spectrum: A Hoist to the Heavens
		Space debris that would sever a small round cable would pass through the broader ribbon, creating small holes and a manageable reduction in cable strength, letting it survive impacts from small debris and meteoroids, which would be fairly common [see illustration, "Cable Close-Up"].
		With the advent of carbon-nanotube composites and the conclusions of recent studies, the space elevator concept is moving toward mainstream acceptance.
		With a space elevator providing cheap, easy, low-risk access to space, people's lives on Earth could be immeasurably enhanced as the wealth of the solar system is brought to their door.
	spectrum.ieee.org /aug05/1690 (3653 words)

	Space Elevators
		A space elevator is a physical connection from the surface of the Earth to a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) above the Earth at approximately 35,786-km in altitude.
		The Earth to GEO space elevator is not feasible today, but could be an important concept for the future development of space in the latter part of the 21st century.
		The overall length of a LEO space elevator from the bottom end of its lower cable to the top end of its upper cable is anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 km, depending on the amount of launch vehicle velocity reduction desired.
	www.affordablespaceflight.com /spaceelevator.html (3684 words)

	The Space Elevator Comes Closer to Reality
		Still, the mental picture needed to grasp the elevator to space ideawell, you can't be weak of mind.
		For a space elevator to function, a cable with one end attached to the Earth's surface stretches upwards, reaching beyond geosynchronous orbit, at 21,700 miles (35,000-kilometer altitude).
		Space Elevators could be established on other planets, like Mars, to assist in their exploration.
	www.space.com /businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html (844 words)

	High hopes for space elevator - Space.com- msnbc.com
		Preliminary studies of the space elevator suggest that it would be capable of lifting 5-ton payloads every day to all Earth orbits, the Moon, Mars, Venus or the asteroids.
		The space elevator is subject to the economy of scale and opens up the possibility of truly inexpensive access to space,” Laubscher said.
		Space tourism, microgravity materials processing, astronomy — all these and other uses that can’t now be imagined could be tapped given the space elevator, he said.
	www.msnbc.msn.com /id/3077701 (1547 words)

	ABC Radio National: The Buzz 24 February 2003 - Space Elevator
		I was aware of carbon nanotubes being produced and their properties as being extremely strong material, and I saw a comment from somebody saying that the space elevator couldn’t be built, and they gave no reasons why.
		To ascend it, to go up to space, there’ll be mechanical climbers with DC electric motors and a set of treads, one on each side of the ribbon and solar cells to receive power from the Earth.
		The space elevator would be able to launch payloads to lower-Earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit or even throw it to Mars, for $100 a pound.
	www.abc.net.au /rn/science/buzz/stories/s791623.htm (1683 words)

	Going up? Space elevator could slash launch costs. \| csmonitor.com
		And where once even supporters held that space elevators were decades away, some scientists and engineers suggest that the first elevator could be running in 15 years.
		Indeed, in its fiscal 2004 budget, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is seeking $2.5 million to conduct more detailed feasibility studies of space elevators and the role these new materials can play in building them as part of its effort to stimulate thinking about advanced concepts for spaceflight.
		He envisions the elevator being built in stages, with either the shuttle or an unmanned spacecraft unrolling an initial cable or ribbon capable of handling payloads up to 13 tons.
	www.csmonitor.com /2003/1002/p14s01-stss.htm (712 words)

	Universe Today - Space Elevator? Build it on the Moon First
		A speech by Arthur C. Clarke in the 1960s, explaining geostationary satellites gave Pearson the inspiration for the whole concept of space elevators while he was working at the NASA Ames Research Center in California during the days of the Apollo Moon landings.
		Imaging that you're floating in space at a point between the Earth and the Moon where the force of gravity from both is perfectly balanced.
		The advantage of connecting an elevator to the Moon instead of the Earth is the simple fact that the forces involved are much smaller - the Moon's gravity is 1/6th that of Earth's.
	www.universetoday.com /am/publish/lunar_space_elevator.html (1321 words)

	G4 - Feature - Space Elevator Gets Lift
		NASA began considering the concept in June 1999 at the Advanced Space Infrastructure Workshop on "Geostationary Orbiting Tether 'Space Elevator' Concepts" held at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
		Once the space elevator is completed in stationary Earth orbit, about 22,000 miles up, scientists anticipate it could be used like a virtual slingshot to accelerate to other space locations.
		Although much of the technology already exists, or is in advanced stages of development, the space elevator's primary component is still far from perfected, and is the main impediment to moving ahead on the concept.
	www.g4tv.com /techtvvault/features/35657/Space_Elevator_Gets_Lift.html (1368 words)

	Howstuffworks "How Space Elevators Will Work"
		When the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off on April 12, 1981, from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to begin the first space shuttle mission, the dream of a reusable spacecraft was realized.
		To better understand the concept of a space elevator, think of the game tetherball in which a rope is attached at one end to a pole and at the other to a ball.
		In this analogy, the rope is the carbon nanotubes composite ribbon, the pole is the Earth and the ball is the counterweight.
	www.howstuffworks.com /space-elevator.htm (928 words)

	The Audacious Space Elevator
		His publication, "Space Elevators: An Advanced Earth-Space Infrastructure for the New Millennium", is based on findings from a space infrastructure conference held at the Marshall Space Flight Center last year.
		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.
		The space tower is a good concept for science fiction writers, but until new materials are developed and cheaper ways to reach orbit are found, the space tower will remain a dream.
	www.firstscience.com /site/articles/elevator.asp (2102 words)

	Space Elevator
		Once you reach the space platform, the rotational force at the platform would have enough energy to fling you to Mars or Venus or the Moon.
		John Vallerga, a research physicist at the company Eureka Scientific that housed the Space Elevator project for the last few years believes the Space Elevator is a revolutionary idea, but he admits it may be a ways from being practical.
		This is the first report by the Space Elevator team to NIAC.
	www.acfnewsource.org /science/space_elevator.html (775 words)

	HowStuffWorks "How Space Elevators Will Work"
		When the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off on April 12, 1981, from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to begin the first space shuttle mission, the dream of a reusable spacecraft was realized.
		To better understand the concept of a space elevator, think of the game tetherball in which a rope is attached at one end to a pole and at the other to a ball.
		In this analogy, the rope is the carbon nanotubes composite ribbon, the pole is the Earth and the ball is the counterweight.
	science.howstuffworks.com /space-elevator.htm (983 words)

	Institute for Scientific Research, Inc. (Site not responding. Last check: )
		A space elevator is a revolutionary concept of getting from Earth into space, a ribbon with one end attached to Earth on a floating platform located at the equator and the other end in space beyond geosynchronous orbit (35,800 km altitude).
		The space elevator would ferry satellites, spaceships, and pieces of space stations into space using electric lifts clamped to the ribbon, serving as a means for commerce, scientific advancement, and exploration.
		ISR is researching a space elevator capable of lifting 5-ton payloads every day to all Earth orbits, the Moon, Mars, Venus or the asteroids.
	www.isr.us /SEHome.asp (177 words)

	CBC News Indepth: Space
		For the space elevator, the carbon nanotubes need to be many metres long and woven together in a polymer to make a super-strong cable.
		Asteroids and space junk are also hazards, but if the space elevator eliminated rockets there would be less debris floating in space.
		He believes cheap space travel will be good for the Earth with manufacturing and mining in space, with orbiting solar collectors that could send energy from the sun to anywhere on the planet.
	www.cbc.ca /news/background/space/spaceelevator.html (2629 words)

	NOVA \| scienceNOW \| Space Elevator: Ask the Expert \| PBS
		In the case of space elevators, Earth does the rotating and the elevator is held in place.
		That said, with the space elevator, the containers wouldn't need to be built to survive the violent forces experienced with rocket launches.
		In space, it is also the case that the sun warms one side and space cools the opposite side of any container.
	www.pbs.org /wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/02-ask.html (1772 words)

	The Audacious Space Elevator
		His publication, Space Elevators: An Advanced Earth-Space Infrastructure for the New Millennium, is based on findings from a space infrastructure conference held at the Marshall Space Flight Center last year.
		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.
		The high cost of constructing a space elevator can only be justified by high usage, by both passengers and payload, tourists and space dwellers.
	science.nasa.gov /headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm (1668 words)

	Space Elevator - Article - Red Colony
		The space elevator is a concept, so magnificent, so huge and so daunting that it may seem like an impossible task from the future.
		But in reality, the concept of the space elevator has existed since 1895 when a Russian scientist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky who was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, envisioned a tower that stretched all the way into space.
		Eventually, the space station could grow into a large sprawling city, with a central shaft about 50 feet wide, a large rotating ring habitat, a large shipbuilding facility in orbit, a large industrial complex, large manufacturing centers and even a huge research park full of research modules connected to a main grid of transfer tubes.
	www.redcolony.com /art.php?id=0308290 (5737 words)

	The Space Elevator Reference: Space Elevator Games 2006 Wrap-up by Dr. Brad Edwards
		Connecting Earth and space in a way never before possible, the space elevator will enable us to inexpensively and completely expand our society into space.
		The Space Elevator Games area at the X-Prize Cup consisted of a climber row, two large tents lined with the competing teams and their climbers, and a large competition area.
		The challenges have not achieved their goals yet, however, if this event is any indication during the next three to five years I have little doubt these events will produce a very high caliber climber and extreme strength materials.
	www.spaceelevator.com /archives/2006/10/space_elevator_24.html (1381 words)

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