I've redone the particulars of the space elevator, found in Section #5 of the Starship Generations website. It now includes estimates of orbits, counterweight mass, aircraft delivery, and construction of the orbiting hub. I figure it will take no more than 500 and possibly as few as 300 Saturn V moon rockets to construct. A century spent constructing a space elevator, 20-50 years constructing giant-scale space habitats, and then we move outward in the solar system: http://www.geocities.com/womplex_oo1/StarshipGenerations.html
Success_Machine The hub is not in geocychronous orbit. It moves at over 6 km/sec with respect to the ground. But it does cartwheels - it rolls forward in the direction of travel, rotating once every 66 minutes. As such if a tether 4000 km long is attached, the its tip speed will be 6 km/sec in the opposite direction. So it can dip into the atmosphere periodically with no relative velocity. There would be a rendezvous opportunity 22 times daily, and it will occur all over the world. Every country will have a chance to take part in the construction effort, since they will have a chance to rendezvous inside their own airspace on a regular basis. So the effort here will be political as well. Not until we have world peace & prosperity will it be possible to utilize the space elevator to its full potential. Otherwise we will not be able to launch anything half the time, because the rendezvous point will be in hostile territory.
One of the largest problems when building the elevator will be the tethering or grounding of it. At this point it is a very dangerous object. Floating near the ground, subject to running into high hills and mountains, large buildings, and drifting. The mass is too large to maneuver or fly into place. It will be a very carefully calculated process with in all likelihood a one shot deal. To miss will mean tragedy for someone on the equator or something. To be successful will mean a new era in space exploration and space access. It will mean a cost of dollars on the pound instead of the present rate of cost. This will have the effect of moving space acquisition into the realm of corporations reach, financially. I would expect one of the first to take advantage of it would be the drug companies and material manufacturing companies. The making of purer drugs and more isometric crystals for improved material properties, cleaner and more abundant power, and access to cheaper heat and cooling, microgravity benefits, and cleaner handling of materials would seem to be some of the driving forces. After it is tethered, then security will remain an issue. Just as terrorism is an issue today and its targets of concern to the populace of the world, this one will be a target of irresistible attention. Capable of getting the news feeds of the world and hence it’s demands heard. Further that the mass of the elevator would be capable of demolishing buildings and structures, most likely rising and falling, as it made it’s way around the world in orbit after orbit. Not a pleasant thought to ponder. The benefits far outweigh the hazards and I for one would love to see it built.
You might want to take a look at another space elevators thread that was started by me in this forum,long time back. that shares a lot of views. bye!
For those who wish to see zion's thread, here is the link straight to it... http://www.sciforums.com/t4770/s/thread.html
Success if you ever successfully build this elevator we can hook up my solar windmill to it as wellPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Space Elevators are important See section #5: Space Elevator ------------------------------ http://www.geocities.com/womplex_oo1/StarshipGenerations.html Believe it or not I've re-worked the space elevator again, incorporating atmospheric density variations at different altitudes. I was pleasantly surprised when everything just clicked into place, and now the theory says a Rotavator will actually work. Practical aspects I've ignored: - time to develop ProSEDS technology - time to launch & assemble central hub of Rotavator - means of fabricating a 4000-kilometer tether with correct taper ratio & strength I will happen I am sure of it. We gotta make more people aware of how important a Rotavator is to the future of the space program.
Rotating Space Elevator Finite Element Analysis I have completed a full-length integration algorithm for aerodynamic loads on a rotating space elevator operating in the regime of high-flying cargo transport aircraft (10 km). I have found that the energy discharge necessary to maintain the altitude of the orbiting hub is around 53.5 megawatts, and the full 2.9 billion joules of energy is discharged over a period of 2 minutes. This means that a supercapacitor can be used, and the charge built up over the 66 minute rotation period by a conservative 750 kilowatt generator. These requirements are by far less stringent than expected (previous calculations done by spreadsheet). Note I have still not taken into account the efficiency of electrodynamic stationkeeping. http://www.geocities.com/womplex_oo1/StarshipGenerations.html
