Space Elevators

Michael Howard 10-31-12

Pros and Cons

Benefits
Cheaper space travel Allows for many more trips into space

Problems
Requires a very strong and light material Will be costly to build

What is a Space Elevator?

Rope attached to the Earth near the
equator which extends directly into space and is attached to a small counterweight in geostationary orbit Will be able to transfer materials and eventually humans into space for much cheaper than it costs now

Why Does the Tether Stay Up?

Because the force of
gravity at the bottom and the upward/outward centrifugal force at the top compete keeping the rope taut

The Platform
Will be placed along the equator so it will
be located in the same place in the sky for ground observers Built on a ship so it can be moved

The Tether
Will be made of 22,000 mile long carbon
nanotube strands because it is currently the only option which has the proper strength and is light enough Will need to be wider at geosynchronous altitude where it will experience the most stress and taper down as it approaches earth

The Climber
It will be powered by lasers and solar
power It is estimated that the climb will take about 5 days

Climber

Counterweight
Captured asteroid Space station above geostationary orbit

Benefits
Currently, the cost to launch a shuttle is
about $10,000/lb Mechanical lifters attached to cable could carry cargo up to space for about $100 to $400 per pound

Elevator vs. Rocket

While rockets will undoubtedly improve
greatly in efficiency there is a limit to how efficient they can become The elevator will be the next step

Space tourism
A space elevator could help many people
realize their dream of traveling into space

Problems with the elevator

Will require a strong material such as
carbon nanotubes which we dont currently possess the ability to form into a long enough tether Will the public be convinced it is a good idea

Cost to build it
The space elevator will be the longest
structure ever built but it will be simple Estimated cost to build the space elevator is about $10 billion Approximate cost of building a space shuttle is about 1.7 billion and it costs about $450 million per mission Endeavor completed 25 missions before being retired

Would it be Safe?
Space debris Cable snaps Storms Terrorism

Conclusion
The future of space travel Would set us on the path towards expanding our
space exploration to places might never reach relying solely on rockets Philip Ragan, co-author of the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator", states that "The first country to deploy a space elevator will have a 95 percent cost advantage and could potentially control all space activities."

References
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/spac
e-elevator.html http://www.howstuffworks.com/spaceelevator.htm http://www.spaceward.org/elevator http://phys.org/news151938445.html http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/01/cambridg e-making-carbon-nanotubes.html