Obayashi plans to construct 'space elevator' in 2050

Who is gonna write liability insurance policy on that structure?

reply to post by elevatedone


I dont think Making a giant electrical wire stretching into space is a good idea.

Doesnt it seem like a bad idea to anyone else...?!?!??!

reply to post by Wertdagf


If there is any truth to the electric universe theory... someone is in for a 'shocking' surprise (pun intended).

reply to post by moebius


Yeah I screwed up totally the speed calc (more like 8,326mph @ 96,000km) but the real point is what material or system can be in place to avoid getting ripped apart from impacts? One has to reasonably conclude impacts are inevitable.

reply to post by Illustronic


I was wondering the same. Presumably, chemical lasers could provide some point defense against smaller debris, but inevitably something will no doubt threaten the whole structure ... perhaps a new technological field might spring from the need... low-orbit space junk collectors.... very good question? One with such a vague answer that I bet they haven't even broached the topic.... leading me to believe that there was more PR in this pronouncement than reality... but I still wish it could be done.... we need to get off this planet.

that would be the 9th wonder of the world, after king kong.

Originally posted by boncho

Originally posted by elevatedone
reply to post by boncho

 

Excellent question. I wonder what they'll do.

7.5 days to the top. So if it were stuck in the middle, you are looking at a few days to be stuck in the elevator. Of course the article doesn't mention much on the concept. Perhaps the elevator is large enough to sustain people for the delay.

Or perhaps the company is looking for some PR.

I think what they are hoping is that by 2050 the tech will be there to make the trip only last 30 min to an hour at most.

No offense to scientists that have been kicking around the idea of a space elevator, for years and years, but frankly I think it's really just a case of over thinking a problem and seems kind of inefficient and somewhat silly.

Why not a dual mag lev system, seems like it would make more sense. A launch base on the ground, with an orbital receiving station above it; the base station could repulse the payload strong enough to get it a good way up and then the receiving station could begin to pull it and the combination of both would get the payload into space.

Probably full of technical difficulties that need to be ironed out, but seems more logical then trying to suspend a great deal of metal between space and the earth.

reply to post by elevatedone


This can't be done. Such a structure would either be monumentally unstable, or atrociously expensive.

That's why it'll take so long...they're saving up!

"Hey, how you doing?"

"Not bad, cutting back on costs this year. And next year. And the next one."

"What! But why?"

"Because I'm getting one of those blasted space elevators! They don't make shuttles like they used to..."

"A space elevator?"

"And an Iron Man suit to go with it!"

Yes, a cantankerous old man deciding his purposes would be best served riding on an elevator taking him high enough that, should the technology fail, will leave him either plummeting to earth like a dead rock, or stranded waiting for the helicopter that they forgot to upgrade for upper atmospheric operations.

This world never ceases to amuse or disgust me.

Oh joy I can't wait, this has been something I hoped would happen in my life time. It would be impossible for this structure to be anywhere other than the equator. Also the technology of present is not capable of such feats. For a good idea of what the construction would be like I advise reading The Fountains of Paradise, by Aurthur C. Clarke. My best I dea for all the debris though is we should collect it all and use it as the material to create the counter weight, it would save on resources and the amount of trips needed to space, and fuel cost. Wait has nobody thought of that before?

Wonderful. Lets have an earthquake and watch it fall down wrapping itself around the earth multiple times...

Where do you get the materials for something like that? I thought the space elevator would cost TRILLIONS...

Compared to high speed launch stations this idea really sucks.
I think I have the name wrong, but it's like a rail system that launches the space vehicle from land.

It's much faster then 200 km/h, doesn't cost as much, the danger factor is 1000 0000 times lower and it's just : not stupid.

The concept sucks too, why would make solar power generators away from the tower and not make it on the tower itself? Sorry for having a brain.

A six-car elevator, expected to travel at a speed of 200 km per hour, will be capable of loading 30 people and will take about 7.5 days to arrive at the orbital station.

I'm still laughing my ass off the insanely low efficiency that billions of wasted dollars could get us.

The future looks brim.

I need some help to visualize this. I'm a visual learner.

Sooooo..... Lets say the counterweight wayyyyyy up there has geo-synchronous orbit. Onto which I would sensibly think they would employ thousands of year old technology in the form of a simple pulley. (stay with me here). Lets say the pulley has 6 sets of loops around it, having a bundle of 6 ULTRA strong carbon nanotube unbreakable cable. That heads back to ground making the force needed to lift the lift far reduced.

How exactly does the physics work for that to happen. The counterweight would need to act as if its 'solidly mounted' (which it may be, but here I'm unsure) for it to function. I'd envisage that the FRICTION of the atmosphere on the unbreakable cable would be extreme! 90 odd thousand kilometers times 6 (or maybe 4 even) is a heck of a lot of weight! Would the friction in the system be so extreme that a pulley would make the counterweight lose its geo-synchronous orbit?

So many questions! My head hurts!


(edit)
If that thing snaps, you get a great glass elevator flung out into space (go Charlie!), and a tower/cable system long enough to wrap around the planet about 14 times... Although, that might sort out the US/Mexican border if we're luky!

Just sounds so.... dangerous...

Really cool idea! Hope I can see one in my lifetime

reply to post by beezzer


It was a Russian idea.

The key concept of the space elevator appeared in 1895 when Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris to consider a tower that reached all the way into space, built from the ground up to an altitude of 35,790 kilometers (22,238 mi) above sea level (geostationary orbit).[5] He noted that a "celestial castle" at the top of such a spindle-shaped cable would have the "castle" orbiting Earth in a geostationary orbit (i.e. the castle would remain over the same spot on Earth's surface).

In 1979, space elevators were introduced to a broader audience with the simultaneous publication of Arthur C. Clarke's novel, The Fountains of Paradise, in which engineers construct a space elevator on top of a mountain peak in the fictional island country of Taprobane (loosely based on Sri Lanka, albeit moved south to the Equator),

When I was trying to learn Russian I had a Russia language article about it that was pretty old. Might still have a pdf of it around here somewhere...

English translation of Russian doc here 1960

Preparation for the cosmic launching
of a contemporary rocket requires
not one day, but more than one
month. Yes, of course, these are just
the first steps man is taking beyond
the limits of his own planet. Still, in the
future the construction of rockets will
not change in principle, and even in the
future the first stage of the flight of a
cosmic liner will be accompanied by the
furious effort of strained engines, by
the immense expendi ture of fuel , by
p r o t e c t i n g o f p a s s e n g e r s f r om h i g h
acceleration — which must be maximal in
order to escape more quickly from the
chains of Earth's gravity. Flight into the
cosmos with the help of a rocket will
never be like a

Well, what will happen if one fastens
such a “rope” to the Earth's equator
and, having flung it far into the cosmos,
one hangs on it an appropriate load?
Calculations show (any student of the
upper grades of middle school can work
t h e m o u t ) t h a t i f t h e “ r o p e ” i s
sufficiently long, then centrifugal force
will also pull it out, not letting it fall to
Earth, just like the stone stretches out
our string. Indeed, the Earth's force of
attraction lessens in proportion to the
square of the distance, and centrifugal
force grows with the increase in d i s t a n c e.
And already at a distance of about 42
thousand ki lometers centrifugal force turns
out to be equal to the force of gravity

Liftport.com here

reply to post by elevatedone


I think a magrail that would "shoot" payloads/craft into space would be a more fruitful venture then a space elevator. I love the idea of spending a week on an elevator (not really), but c'mon! Magnets guys, magnets! Magnets and a rail...

...Magnets...

reply to post by kawika
Thanks for the correction. It was an Arthur C. Clarke novel I was thinking of.

Didn't know about the russians.

reply to post by DaRAGE


I agree...

this shouldnt be built in Japan if they want it keep it grasping the heavens...


But hey its a really cool idea! One I would love to see come into fruition...

as long as its not done with US tax dollars haha

I don't think I could put up with 7.5 days of elevator music....