Space elevator reality or myth!

by umer | 8:25 AM in , , |

Space elevator  reality or myth!
Japan's Obayashi Corporation introduced the concept of a vehicle into space.
This will be a space elevator from Earth to orbit. Launch is scheduled for lift 2050.
And fifty years ago, people thought at first of the 21st century space travel will be available to everyone, and more than once.Unfortunately it is not.
This elevator will lead from Earth to the space station, located at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers.
But rope length of 96 thousand kilometers. Need this in order to create a counterweight to the orbital.
Later it can be used to extend the route elevator.
Elevator can move at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour and carry the same time up to 30 people.
So the end goal of this vehicle will need about 8 days.
On the space station be located as laboratories and living quarters.
sounds good. But there are doubts about the impracticality of such a construction. 1. There are not enough strong material for cable
The load on the cable can exceed 100 000 kg / m, so the material for its manufacture must have a very high strength to resist stretching, and with a very low density. While such material is not - is not even suitable carbon nanotubes, are now regarded as the most durable and elastic material on the planet. Unfortunately, the technology of their production is only beginning to be developed. Yet manage to get tiny pieces of material: the longest nanotubes that could create - a couple of centimeters in length and a few nanometers in width. Will there ever be drawn from this rather long rope, is still unknown.

2. Susceptibility to harmful vibrations
A cable will be susceptible to unpredictable gusts of solar wind - under its influence, he will bend and it will adversely affect the stability of the lift. As stabilizers can be attached to the cable micromotors, but this measure will create additional difficulties in the maintenance building. In addition, it can make progress on the rope special booths, so-called "climbers". A cable is likely to come with them to resonate.

3. Coriolis force
Cable and "climbers" stationary relative to the surface of the Earth. But with respect to the center of the Earth object will move with speed 1700 km / h at the surface and 10 000 km / h in orbit. Accordingly, the "climbers" When you start necessary to give this speed."Mountaineer" accelerated in the direction perpendicular to the rope, and because of this cable will swing like a pendulum. Simultaneously, a force that tries to pull the cable from our Earth. Force is inversely proportional to the deflection wire and directly proportional to the speed lifting and weight. Thus, the Coriolis force prevents the quick lift loads into geostationary orbit. Since the Coriolis force can fight, just running at the same time the two "climbers" - from the Earth and orbits, but then the force between two cargo rope will stretch further.As an option - painfully slow recovery in the tracks.

4. Satellites and space debris
Over the past 50 years, humans have launched into space set of objects - and not very useful. Or the builders will have to lift it to find and remove (which is impossible, given the amount of useful satellite or space telescope), or introduce a system that protects the lens from collisions. Cable - theoretically fixed, so any body rotating around the earth sooner or later it will face. In addition, the rate of collisions will be almost equal to the speed of rotation of the body, so that the rope would suffer great damage. Maneuver the cable can not, and has great length, so the impact will be frequent. How to deal with, is not clear. Scientists say about the construction of orbital space laser to burn garbage, but that's just out of science fiction.

5. Social and environmental risks
Space elevator could become the object of a terrorist attack. Successful sabotage operations cause great damage and can bury the whole project, so that together with the lift will have to build around it and around the clock defense. Environmentalists, however, believe that the cable is, paradoxically, could shift the earth's axis. A cable will be firmly fixed in orbit, and its offset any impact on the top of the world. By the way, can you imagine what would happen if he suddenly breaks off? Thus, to implement such a project in the world is very difficult. The good news is that it will work on the moon. The attractive force on the satellite is much less, and the atmosphere is virtually absent. The anchor can be created in the gravity field of the Earth, and the cable from the moon will pass through the Lagrange point - so we get a communication channel between the planet and its natural satellite. Such a cable under the right conditions can forward to orbit the earth about 1,000 tons of cargo per day. The material, of course, require a heavy-duty, but nothing new to invent is not necessary. True, the length of the "lunar" elevator will have to make about 190 000 km due to an effect called Gomanovskoy trajectory.