How to Build a Space Elevator

Why do you need a space elevator in the first place?

A space elevator is a hypothetical Earth-to-space transport structure that enables delivery of payloads without the need for rockets first envisioned by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895. While it was not feasible at the time, technological advancements are slowly beginning to shape the concept into a reality. The following are the justification of building a space elevator:

• Cheap payload delivery to space
  • With space elevators, the cost of transporting goods is significantly reduced to 90%.
• Sustainable space travel
  • As space elevators avoid the use of rockets, the environmental impact of travelling to space is significantly reduced.
• Space tourism
  • Space elevators can facilitate space tourism, enabling more people to travel to space
• Satellite Deployment and Interplanetary Missions
  • With space elevators, transporting materials to low Earth orbit is significantly easier, therefore, this facilitates deploying satellites and supporting interplanetary missions .

Construction and Material

The biggest challenge in building a space elevator is in its construction. The space elevator should be capable of supporting immense amounts of weight which includes supporting its own massive weight, fighting the forces of gravity, weather conditions, environmental factors and space debris. One ideal construction material candidate at present time is carbon nanotubes.

• The following are the properties of carbon nanotubes that make it ideal:
  • High tensile strength
    • Carbon nanotubes is 100x stronger than steel. This property is crucial to support the immense weight that spans over 2000km
  • Lightweight
    • Carbon nanotubes are also light, enabling construction of support structures that are light yet preserving the strength.
  • Electrical conductivity
    • Carbon nanotubes are one of the best conductors of electricity, ideal to transmit power for lift movement and more.

Propulsion

Let's talk propulsion, surely if you build a space elevator, you would need to a form of propulsion that can move the "car" at the best efficiency. There are a few viable options!

• Laser propulsion
  • This is something I found fascinating. Laser propulsion includes the use of concentrated ground lasers to transmit energy to the car and propel it. Here's an overview of how it would work
    • Lasers on Earth would transmit concentrated energy to the car
    • The car contains photovoltaic cells that captures energy from the laser
    • The captured energy would be converted into power and powers the cars motors, driving it up.
• Magnetic levitation
  • Maglev cars works similar to how magnetic levitation trains work, although this is less practical.
    • The car is equipped with electromagnets
    • Electromagnets are also placed along the body of the space elevator
    • The interaction between the electromagnets on the car and the space elevator body generates a magnetic force and propels the car up

Power & Energy

A space elevator would require vast amounts of energy to transport cargo, there are a few viable options that are available.

• Solar panels
  • As sunlight in space is near limitless as it is more uninterrupted without the presence of an atmosphere, this option naturally works in our favour. This makes building a solar array a viable option along the body to power the space elevator.
  • Solar power is also renewable and green, making the possibility of utilising space elevators environmentally friendly
• Nuclear Power
  • Another option is nuclear power. This option exists as an alternative as building solar panels require vast amounts of construction material. The advantage of nuclear power is that only a small amount of fuel is required to produce a large power output.
• Nuclear power also produces reliable power output. Solar panels are dependant on the presence of sunlight and would require an energy storage device. Current nuclear fission reactors on the other hand, can run for 18 to 24 without needing to refuel.

Conclusion

In conclusion while the theory of building a space elevator is nearly sound, there are many challenges ahead. For example, the production of carbon nanotubes at scale still remains a challenge. Space elevators are also prone to large amounts of cosmic radiation, protective shields have to be implemented to ensure this is mitigated. More information can be found in my AI Book Summariser, link below.

Book Sources:

The following books were referenced as I wrote this blog. If you don't have time to read all these, you can use my next-gen AI Book Summariser web app to aggregate these content or buy them at Amazon for a complete experience!

• The Space Elevator: A Revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation System by David Smitherman
• Space Elevators: An Introduction by Michael Laine

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