From The Fountains Of Paradise

[Lonan3]

Space? Take the lift

[Jimcalagon]

Space? Take the lift

 

Coincidentally I just finished re-reading the first of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy which also features a space elevator. It's a great idea, except if (as in 'Red Mars') someone manages to bring it down.

 

Also, the crazy statements made by a lot of people on that news article shows that a massive lack of knowledge about the physical principles involved and a complete misconception of the basic idea doesn't seem to deter people from foisting their half baked views on the web-surfing world. As usual.

[Skeddan]

Space? Take the lift

Space? Take wave lift

[Jimcalagon]

Space? Take the lift

Space? Take wave lift

 

Space 'officially' starts at 100 km up. Looking at the article they say that the limit for 'sailplanes' (or gliders as we call them on this side of the big water) using this lift is thought to be about 30-35km. An interesting article but not that useful as a cheap way into space, I would have thought.

 

However this lot - JP Aerospace seem to have a novel way of getting large cargoes into orbit cheaply - by airship! To quote from their literature...

 

The first part is an atmospheric airship. It will travel from the surface of the Earth to 140,000 feet. The vehicle is operated by a crew of three and can be configured for cargo or passengers. This airship is a hybrid vehicle using a combination of buoyancy and aerodynamic lift to fly. It is driven by propellers designed to operate innear vacuum.

 

The second part of the architecture is a suborbital space station. This is a permanent, crewed facility [suspended under helium balloons] parked at 140,000 feet. These facilities, called Dark Sky Stations (DSS), act as the way stations to space. The DSS is the destination of the atmospheric airship and the departure port for the orbital airship. Initially, the DSS will be the construction facility for the large orbital vehicle.

 

The third part of the architecture is an airship/dynamic vehicle that flies directly to orbit. In order to utilize the few molecules of gas at extreme altitudes, this craft is big. The initial test vehicle is 6,000 feet (over a mile) long. The airship uses buoyancy to climb to 200,000 feet. From there it uses electric [or 'ion'] propulsion [which has already been successfully used on space probes] to slowly accelerate. As it accelerates it dynamically climbs. Over several days it reaches orbital velocity.

 

(I've expanded on that slightly - inside [] - for the sake of clarity)

 

It seems feasible enough. It doesn't rely on any radical new technologies, just new engineering. And it literally isn't rocket science.

[Miss Take]

One of the replies to the Times article:-

 

"What will be the result of an aircraft flying into the cables?

It seems likely that there would be expensive crashing sounds as thousands of miles of cable come tumbling down.

 

Even if aircraft are forbidden in the area, pilots will still get lost/ confused or even become terrorists!

 

Bruce Sinton, Gisborne, New Zealand"

 

'lost/confused or even become terrorists' - priceless!

[Jimcalagon]

One of the replies to the Times article:-

 

"What will be the result of an aircraft flying into the cables?

It seems likely that there would be expensive crashing sounds as thousands of miles of cable come tumbling down.

 

Even if aircraft are forbidden in the area, pilots will still get lost/ confused or even become terrorists!

 

Bruce Sinton, Gisborne, New Zealand"

 

'lost/confused or even become terrorists' - priceless!

 

 

And, of course, being pedantic, severing the cable near its base would not cause the whole thing to plunge out of orbit. You'd need to sever it at the top for that to happen.

 

No-one mentions the fact that there are hundreds of satellites in Low Earth Orbit, all of which cross the equator. Forget aeroplanes, what happens if one of these hits the cable at a relative speed of 7 miles per second? If the cable breaks the bottom couple of hundred miles of cable would fall to Earth. I suppose it might be possible to map the orbits of all known satellites and make the cable oscillate in such a way as to 'dodge' them but what about the unknown satellites...?