this looks fun
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:05 am
The world's first space elevator, depicted here in
a NASA handout, is to be built in Vulcan, Alta. (NASA handout)
(Ottawa) - Officials at Canada's RocketStar Space Centre announced today that they have selected Vulcan, Alta. as the site for the base station of the world's first International Space Elevator.
Space elevators make use of a tether between a point on Earth and a station in geosynchronous orbit. The centripetal force generated by the Earth's rotation keeps the tether, formed of carbon nanotubes, taut. Platforms would then climb the rope into space using only the force of gravity.
"The cost of moving one kilogram of cargo into space with a shuttle is around $22,000," said Maidup Geye, director of RocketStar's Space Elevator Institute. "With the International Space Elevator a passenger with 150 kg of baggage could travel into orbit for only $222. The commercial potential alone from this project makes it a goldmine."
"The appeal of central Alberta for the International Space Elevator is its elevation, its flat surroundings and its relatively sparse population," said RocketStar spokesperson Laynard Nemoi.
The base station – to be developed in concert with NASA - will certainly change the landscape around the town of Vulcan. It will be nearly 50 kilometres tall, with the carbon nanotube cable fixed deep underground.
A consortium of companies involved in the program have, over the years, been quietly purchasing acres of land in the region to accommodate the base station.
"The fact that the first International Space Elevator will be constructed in a town that shares a name with the planet of science fiction character Spock is a coincidence," said Nemoi.
The ability to construct the carbon nanotube cable is a relatively recent technological development, and is one reason the ISE project can go ahead. "The cable needs to be 100,000 km long," explained Neimoy. "And it needs to be thicker at the space station than on the Earth base station, so it needs to taper.
"Carbon nanotubes have the strength of diamond without the brittleness. They are the perfect construction material for the tether."
The robotics department at Vancouver technical university SpacEd are already developing the robotic vehicles that will be used to move up and down the tether. The program was awarded the contract based on their success in a space elevator competition last year.
"We've got our work cut out for us," admitted Dr. Tim Ringer, between puffs of some prime B.C. bud, "but our team is up to the challenge. We'll be ready."
Construction of the base station is expected to take five years. Testing of the ISE is planned to last an additional two years. RocketStar expects the inaugural voyage of the elevator to occur on April 1, 2015.