- SANTA FE, New Mexico
-- No matter how you view it, a space elevator is a stretch not only of
vision, but also of far-out materials and cutting-edge technology.
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- Putting in place a space elevator is complicated: Extend
a super-strong ribbon from an Earth-situated platform at the equator out
beyond geosynchronous orbit. Once in position, electric lifts clamped to
the ribbon would truck spacecraft, science gear, as well as passenger-carrying
modules into space.
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- But the quest for a revolutionary route to space is getting
very real. So real, in truth, that the specter of a terrorist attack on
such a stellar skyscraper cant be discounted. Nor can a host of thorny
national and international legal and policy qualms be set aside for too
long.
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- Those were among numerous issues addressed during the
2nd Annual International Conference on the Space Elevator, held here September
12-15. The event was co-sponsored by the Los Alamos National Laboratory
of Los Alamos, New Mexico and the Institute for Scientific Research, Inc.,
based in Fairmont, West Virginia.
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- Mass Exodus
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- No longer merely theoretical, research and development
dollars are actually being spent on fleshing out how best to build these
sky high beasts of burden.
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- The Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), a recently
formed independent organization staffed with a cadre of multidisciplinary
scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other specialists, is currently
shouldering most of the work on the space elevator project. A core ISR
business area is in energy and space.
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- Preliminary studies of the space elevator suggest that
it would be capable of lifting 5-ton payloads every day to all Earth orbits,
the Moon, Mars, Venus or the asteroids. Furthermore, it could be operational
in 15 years.
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- Now projected to be on the order of a $6 billion investment,
the first space elevator could quickly reduce lift costs to $100 per pound.
That far outstrips todays pricey launch costs of roughly
- $10,000 to $40,000 per pound, depending upon destination
and choice of rocket launch system.
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- Better yet is the offering from follow-on and larger
elevators, built-to-order by making use of the initial one. Lift ticket
expenses drop ever more sharply, permitting large-scale use of space, be
it for commercial, military, scientific purposes, or even the mass exodus
of space settlers.
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- Economy Of Scale
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- "With the space elevator were going to reduce the
cost, difficulty, and complexity of going into space," said Bradley
Edwards, Director of Research for ISR. "With this technology, it would
have a lot fewer critical parts than todays space shuttle," he added,
perhaps making it far safer to access space.
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- "This is a different technology than rockets,"
Edwards told SPACE.com. "Whether youre going into Earth orbit, to
the Moon, Mars, Venus, or the asteroids, the space elevator is really the
way to go," he said.
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- "There is a key problem with rockets," said
Bryan Laubscher of the Los Alamos Space Instrumentation and System Engineering
Group.
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- "Rockets are not a technology subject to the economy
of scale. Therefore, theyll never be cheap. The space elevator is subject
to the economy of scale and opens up the possibility of truly inexpensive
access to space," Laubscher said.
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- As this years conference organizer, Laubscher said that
the space elevator "is a paradigm shift from the way we get into space
now."
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- The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) recognized
early the space elevators revolutionary potential, awarding Edwards research
monies to hammer out technical details of the idea, prior to his joining
ISR.
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- Patricia Russell, NIAC Associate Director, advised those
at the conference to keep a NIAC credo in the forefront of deliberations,
no matter how daunting the road ahead.
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- "Dont let your preoccupation with reality stifle
your imagination," Russell said.
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- Laughing Has Stopped
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- Science fiction sage, Sir Arthur Clarke, beamed in his
support for the elevator project via satellite from Sri Lanka. In technical
papers and particularly in his novel, The Fountains of Paradise, Clarke
has backed the creation of a space elevator.
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- "I do think it may be the way to space. The economics
are fantastic," Clarke advised conference listeners. Space tourism,
microgravity materials processing, astronomy all these and other uses that
cant now be imagined could be tapped given the space elevator, he said.
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- The 86-year-old Clarke recounted an earlier prediction
about when the space elevator might be up and operating. "Itll be
built 10 years after everybody stops laughing and I think they have stopped
laughing," he said.
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- Space Debris Worries
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- However, Clarke also pointed to difficulties ahead. "I
dont quite know how were going to solve the issue of space debris. Thats
going to be a major problem in making the space elevator practical,"
he advised.
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- With so much orbiting clutter, including spent rocket
stages, dead or dying satellites, zipping around Earth all the way up to
stationary orbit, damage to the space elevator is a worry, Clarke said.
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- There is also concern, Clarke added, that the heavenly
elevator is sure to become a target for terrorism. "We need to remove
economic and other grudges. But, of course, you could never cope with total
lunatics that could do anything."
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- Although he advocates keeping the lawyers out of space,
part of making the elevator reality is hammering out international agreements
to utilize the facility for the benefit of all, Clarke said, "and
the sooner the better."
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- "We can solve these problems. We just have to be
careful," Clarke concluded.
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- Lab Looks
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- The magic substance that appears likely to literally
hold the space elevator concept together is the carbon nanotube.
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- A ribbon 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) long made
of carbon nanotubes would be some three feet (less than a meter) wide and
thinner than a newspaper page. But that ribbon would be hundreds of times
sturdier than steel and one-fifth the weight.
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- Carbon nanotubes are getting extensive in-the-lab looks.
More importantly, predicted ultra-strength properties of the material appear
to be coming true.
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- ISRs Edwards points to new work in China that suggests
carbon nanotubes can be fused together, without need of a matrix material.
If perfected, he said, single-fiber carbon nanotubes might offer incredible
strength - several times stronger than what is required to fabricate space
elevator ribbon.
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- "I dont see where theres going to be an issue getting
to a strength that we can use to build the elevator," Edwards said.
Additionally, a number of other space applications are starting to jell,
he said.
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- For example, some experts have begun assessing the feasibility
of building large space structures out of carbon nanotube composites, Edwards
said. Once the structure is made, then the carbon nanotube surface would
be coated with a reflective metal -- perfect as a giant, but lightweight,
space-rated mirror.
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- Worldwide Research
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- Nanotube composite work is a worldwide effort, said Rodney
Andrews, Associate Director in Carbon Materials at the University of Kentuckys
Center for Applied Energy Research in Lexington, Kentucky.
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- "This research area has started to catch a lot of
momentum, not always necessarily for high-strength composites, but also
for multi-functional type materials," Andrews told SPACE.com. "Were
learning things very rapidly right nowlaying the groundwork for what we
will be able to do with these in the future," he said.
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- Andrews noted that better techniques to look at and evaluate
bonding properties of carbon nanotubes are also quickly evolving.
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- As for utilizing carbon nanotubes for the space elevator,
time will tell, Andrews said. Meanwhile, the incremental steps along the
way toward that space elevator ribbon goal are sure to prove fruitful,
he noted.
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- "Right now, it is still a very young field. Its
exciting to watch. To date it is too early to say, yes, its going to work
[for the space elevator] but it is also too early to say no, its not,"
Andrews said.
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- Move The Agenda Forward
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- Next year may well be a turning point in the history
of the space elevator.
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- U.S. lawmakers have written into an appropriations bill
$2.5 million in funds to foot-the-bill for further engineering reviews,
develop data bases, and address critical issues related to the space elevator.
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- NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
and the Institute for Scientific Research see cooperative steps that can
put more talent and time on the space elevator effort.
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- Kevin Niewoehner, ISR President and CEO, okayed use of
limited internal money within his organization to push ahead on several
space elevator tasks. But much work remains ahead, he said.
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- "There are political, legal, and environmental issues,
as well as technical challenges with the space elevator," Niewoehner
said. In his view, NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense are the two
key groups within the federal government most likely to have a vested interest
in the project, having the resources, wherewithal, and experience to bring
the space elevator into reality.
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- "We want to drive the message home in Washington,
D.C.," Niewoehner said. "This is something that needs to be treated
seriously. Its not the lunatic fringe. Its not science fiction. We need
to move the agenda forward," he said.
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