Space elevator, To infinity and beyond!!!
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Space elevator, To infinity and beyond!!! Everyone wants to go to Space, however getting there isn’t cheap. There aren’t many alternatives to traditional rocket engines of getting in to high orbits. Some are proposing High Altitude Space Balloons, Skylon – space plane is another interesting concept under development and we also have VirginGalactic is also doing its bit . SpaceX , BlueOrigin have impressive plans for colonizing space too. However there are some really interesting concepts that take whole new approach in getting us to Low Earth Orbit but also Geostationary Orbit, high above Earth. Space Elevator is one way of doing it. First time proposed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky way back in 1895. The Space Elevator is a proposed idea of an elevator that would be constructed ideally at the equator. The main component would be a nanotube cable (also called a tether) anchored to the surface and extending into Geostationary Orbit in space. The design would permit elevator to travel along the cable from Earth’s surface directly into ~36000km GEO. Carbon Nanotube material was proposed cause it is only material that can withstand tensile forces necessary for Space Elevator. However problem with the nanotube at least for now, is that there’s no major manufacturer worldwide that can produce the amount of nanotubes required for such project and there’s doubt if Carbon nanotubes are strong enough to withstand the stress. A carbon nanothread being the alternative material which is slightly stronger. Obayashi Corporation has proposed a space elevator to be constructed by 2050. According to Obayashi Corporation, the 96000km long main nanotube cables will be connected to a 400m floating port somewhere on Earth and a large 12500ton counterweight in 96000km geostationary orbit above Earth. Obayashi Corporations hope tensile strength of the nano tube cable will be in the region of 150 Giga Pascal or Gpa, well with in tolerance of nanotube which have tensile strength of around ~950 Gpa. The Obayashi Corporation didn’t comment on how much such project would cost, but considering nanotube manufacturing is at its infancy as there’s little demand, and the whole principle would require several space launches to anchor nanotube cables to an orbital tether. Under Obayashi proposal, the Space Elevator would stretch to 96000km orbit, however a transiting points will be built at altitudes of 3900km, 8900km, 23750km, 36000km, 57000km and finally at 96000km. Each transit point serving the specific purpose, i.e. for trips to Mars 57000km Transit point would be used. A 100 ton elevator will service each transit point taking up to 8 days to reach outer most transit point at 96000km which will be used to explore outer Solar System or eventually for interstellar travel. If all goes well, Obayashi Corporation hopes the very first commercial users of Space Elevator will be hopping on a trip of their lifetime sometimes in 2050s. The construction on first Space Elevator should begin sometimes in 2025 and be completed within 20 years. First commercial use of the Space Elevator could happen as early as 2050. Costs involved in construction something so large and heavy would require significant capital, can be done, SpaceX super heavy boosters can be used to launch the first components of the Space Elevator in to space, each booster being able to lift around 300 tons in to Low Earth Orbit, taking 4-5 launches for initial segment of the Space Elevator, however building a whole thing and getting the right amount of carbon nanotubes or diamond nanothreads might take few more decades as manufacturing processes do not exist in large enough quantity and costs are still way too high. If you liked my video perhaps you might like my channel too, I create videos about Science & Technology, Space, Astronomy, Gameplay, Military technology and Environmental Architecture, Green and Eco news including latest on the photovoltaic, wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy such as Fusion Power. Please Subscribe if you like my videos, or press like. Please comment and if you have any question please ask, if I know the answer I'll try to Answer. You can also follow me on other sites. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mic_of_orion?... you can help me with a monthly donations here. Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76... Twitter: https://twitter.com/mic_orion Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/11216989747... Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/mic.orion Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/micoforion
Comments
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In other words, we won't be there to see it when (or if) it happens
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thothx and skylon team up together to go to mars
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It has been suggested – 100 years after the completion of the first space elevator there will be more people living and working in outer space than on earth. The first space elevator is difficult to build.The second is much easier.The third, easier still etc.,until we have a ring of elevators around the planet.A trip to space will be as cheap as a train trip across the country.Colonizing the Moon and Mars will be affordable.Space tourism will be huge.Asteroid mining will be huge.And all of these industries will require lodging and related supply chain infrastructure for space side construction workers.A new space elevator concept will help to make us a true space faring civilization .
It has multiple tethers at its center ( for greatest strength ) and
fewer tethers as you move away from center ( for lesser amounts of mass ) . It is also in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit , so it appears to drop straight down from space , pick up a payload , and return to space , thus requiring a much smaller system than an earth based space elevator. We already have material strong enough to get us within the distance of the lunar gravity center ( around 6,000 mi. ) add the proposed system above and we could do this now!
Let's get started.
What do you think? -
This is the future. This solves two great problems: Energy and living room. Once built, Earth based energy sources such as coal and oil will not be needed for "polluting" energy production. We will have unlimited access to the rest of the solar system, especially the asteroid belt and the many moons of Saturn and Jupiter.
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The idea is an old one but it's been proven to be largely impossble to achieve. This is because of the shear forces that would be placed on the tether. It's bad enough when in the atmosphere, but outside the atmosphere, when moving from one orbital altitude to another, the only effect is that of gravity which means any masses will move at different speeds to hold their positions, resulting in shearing force. So moving, for example, from a low Earth orbit to a high Earth orbit, to a Geostationary orbit, you'd find the velocities are all completely different and cannot be equated to by drawing a straight line through those altitudes. So this is one dream that's not going to happen.
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65,000 miles of cable how many splices each will be a weak point how do you lower it at orbital speeds and wind would whip this cable around and have to account for jet stream just a fancy dream. Dragging that much cable thru the atmosphere would be impossible.
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Nice work. I'm kinda just hoping for a HUGE leap in nano technology that can get us up there now.
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We need a halo before elevator.
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The space elevator is likely never going to happen. A study out of Hong Kong showed that carbon nanotubes with even a single atom out of place has significantly less strength. An elevator tether that weighs a minimum of 140,000 tonnes (to carry any meaningfull cargo) would need to be chemically pure over its entire 96,000 km.
Maybe some process will be invented to manufacture chemically pure nanotubes but then there is radioactive decay of carbon-14 to consider and radiation in space. Carbon-14 will behave chemically the same as carbon-12 (the more common stable version) but has a half-life of about 5700 years. As soon as one carbon-14 decays the strength of the tether is compromised. That would mean the tether would need to be isotopicly and chemically pure carbon-12.
And no one knows what the effect of radiation has on nanotubes. If galactic cosmic rays strike the tether a carbon-12 could be turned into... anything else.
All of these factors might be addressed by constant repair and replacement of the tether. If the tether material is manufactured on Earth the elevator's capacity will be taken up entirely with repair missions. There is a slim chance that tether material could be manufactured in space from asteroid material in which case the elevator might be made to work.
SpaceX, Blue Origin and Skylon have the right idea... reusable launch vehicles. Add Jeff Bezos' idea of industry in space using asteroid materials and humanity could colonize space. -
maybe on Earth the concept of the space elevator could be difficult to execute with current technology due to Earths gravity, but imagine this in Mars, it may be possible with current technology, with the plan to colonize Mars allready under way, such a structure would make Mars colonization a lot easier and also make Mars the perfect spaceport for the exploration of the solar sistem.
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There is another concept known as the orbital space ring which works a lot like a space elevator only this is some what better cause it can be made with normal materials (like iron titanium Kevlar etc) plus the orbital space ring can also provide planetary defense the only reason why we haven't built one is cause no one wants to fund it
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I see the people floating around but would being at the top of this structure not be the same as being in any building on earth with gravity? The world's highest penthouse.
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Im not so sure this is a good idea, there are too many variables and things that can go wrong.
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"Welcome to "Mars Gate". Passangers for flight M325 to Mars, departing at 0900 hours, are kindly requested to proceed to security check."
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But the debris in orbit.....may cause the space elevator to fail..
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The epic nature of the space elevator used to get me excited, but I changed my mind on the matter. It would require a massive upfront investment, at the same time lower the cost per launch, so it will not pay for itself in any reasonable timeframe, if at all, because you cannot guarantee demand will reach the necessary levels. Unless you invest in creating the demand at the same time, putting the whole thing in the realm of national budget exploding boondoggles (if it wasn't there already). There is no operational flexibility at all. Reusable launchers make far more sense, you can build one, you can build one thousand, depending on demand. And once they open up the frontier and there is demand that would justify an elevator, it still makes no more sense than building a transatlantic railway bridge would in the age of airliners and container ships.
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Why do they keep on making Tinker Toy Space Stations and I have a new Idea for the Elevator and the Space Stations. I am still working out the bugs but I hope to show it to SpaceX and NASA in a month or so. If any would like to help me my Ph# 2542452484 rwdisland@yahoo.com
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Great video!
If you're right about the counterweight at the end of the elevator having to be 12500 tons it will take 40-50 launches with SpaceX super heavy. Launch costs alone are $0.5 Billion. Its a big effort but could pay off!
The other consideration, if travelling 57000km even at 500km/hr it would take 114 hrs (almost 5 days) to travel up the line. This is pretty slow but quite fast for something travelling on a track/maglev. Could be a bottle neck, I don't know. Maybe 1 'train' leaving each day would spread them out nicely. -
Its getting better and better each video, Keep up the good work Mic.
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Great video!
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