• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

NEXT FLOOR MARS? THE SPACE ELEVATOR YV Introduction The story of the space elevator is really assured his interviewers that not only Focus the story of a group of dreamers— was it possible but it would, indeed, One of the great visionaries who imagine a possible ultimately be built. dreams of both world that seems completely fantastic to Clarke’s concept was quickly picked science and science most other people. up by a number of scientists and fiction is to find a cheap, safe way for The Canadian Oxford Dictionary engineers who agreed that, in theory, human beings to defines a visionary as a person “given it made a great deal of sense. They travel into outer to seeing visions or indulging in fanci- were quick to point out, however, that space. This News in ful theories,” or one “having vision or the space elevator was an engineering Review story exam- foresight.” Calling someone a visionary feat beyond current capabilities. The ines the idea of the can be both to praise and to disparage biggest drawback: no material light or space elevator, that person. strong enough existed with which to which more and For over 100 years, a very few—the build the cable from Earth to space. more experts believe may well visionaries—have dreamed of the space On the other hand, if such a mate- make this dream elevator: a fixed link between the earth rial—one jokingly called come true. and space. The concept itself of people unobtainium—could be found, then climbing to heaven and to the sky is building a space elevator would be much older; the Tower of Babel in the possible; not easy, but possible. Definition Bible and the fairy tale of Jack and the In 1991, scientists suddenly had Geosynchronous, Beanstalk both deal with this idea. But their unobtanium. They discovered according to the the father of the modern version is that carbon atoms could be wrapped Canadian Oxford probably a Russian, Konstantin into microscopic tubes to form a Paperback Diction- Tsiolkovski. In 1896, inspired by the material 100 times stronger—and ary, is an adjective Eiffel Tower, he envisioned a “celestial much lighter—than steel. The study of that refers to an artificial satellite castle” floating in space, reached by a carbon nanotubes (extremely tiny “moving in such an cable attached to a high tower on the tubes, a few billionths of a metre in orbit equal to the earth below. diameter) soon became one of the earth’s period of In 1960 another Russian, Yuri N. most popular areas of materials re- rotation.” Artsutanov, published an article in the search for scientists—the commercial newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda value of such a material for construct- describing a design very close to what ing all kinds of items was self-evident. YV Sections has become today’s design, with a Research concentrated on methods for marked with this tether attached from earth to a satellite producing large quantities of carbon symbol indicate content suitable for in geosynchronous orbit. The idea was nanotubes, and for binding them younger viewers. picked up by Jerome Pearson of the Air together to form long fibres. Force Research Laboratory who pub- Scientists and engineers at NASA lished an article describing a space realized that carbon nanotubes could elevator in 1977. be just the material they were looking It took one of the great science fiction for in designing a space elevator. By visionaries, Arthur C. Clarke, to popu- 1999 they had produced a preliminary larize the concept of the space elevator. design that, they felt, could be con- He built it in his imagination, and structed in about 50 years. It required described it in his 1979 novel The several impressive engineering feats, Fountains of Paradise. Asked at the including the construction of a 50 time if he really believed that building kilometre-high base tower to which such a thing was possible, Clarke would be tethered a 36 000 kilometre CBC News in Review • April 2004 • Page 46 carbon nanotube cable anchored to a tive thinking about the future, of asking docking station. The docking station “What if?” even in areas where some- was initially conceived of as an asteroid thing seems patently impossible. that would be moved into geosynchro- Thinking the impossible about the nous orbit around Earth. future has always been part of science One NASA scientist, Bradley fiction—in film and television, as well Edwards, felt that there had to be a as in novels. Those writers who ground simpler and cheaper approach to com- their fiction in science, like Arthur C. pleting a space elevator. Edwards Clarke and Isaac Asimov, often live reworked the design, and created a long enough to see some of their wild- version that he felt could be built for est ideas become reality. Many scien- $10-billion within 15 years. Edwards tists are early fans of the genre, and left NASA and formed a private com- often the ideas they read in their youth pany, now known as LiftPort Inc., inspire their work in later life. which expects to build the first space Even huge organizations like NASA elevator in 2018. and the European Space Agency have While there are still many problems come to recognize the importance of to overcome, the building of a space vision. Both have created divisions to elevator now seems not only possible look beyond the needs of the immediate but also likely, and the prospect is and near future, to explore seeming exciting scientists around the world— outlandish ideas and concepts, and to many of whom volunteer their time to encourage visionaries to imagine all assist the project. It has also served to kinds of possible worlds. draw attention to the value of specula- To Consider 1. Why might science fiction be important to a student of science itself? 2. Take a minute to think about and write down three important “What if” statements of your own. 3. Note two books of science fiction or speculative fiction that you could suggest others might wish to read. For Reflection Before you watch the video, list some of the ways in which the building of a space elevator might change your world. How might it be used? After you watch the program, compare your ideas with those expressed by the scientists and engineers on the video. CBC News in Review • April 2004 • Page 47 NEXT FLOOR MARS? THE SPACE ELEVATOR YV Video Review 1. Give two reasons why scientists think rocket-powered space flight is not Answer the ques- the best way to travel into space. tions as you watch the video. 2 a. What was the first thing designed and built at the Los Alamos National Laboratory? b. What was the name of the project? 3. Health physicist Ron Morgan thinks that a space elevator could be built fairly soon. What is his estimate (in years)? _____________________________ 4. How would the climbers on the space elevator be fuelled? 5. Name the recently discovered material that seems to make construction of the space elevator a possibility. _______________________________________ 6. How many tonnes of carbon nanotubes will it take to build the space elevator? _____________ 7. There is an unanswered health issue with carbon nanotubes. What is it? 8. What might happen to the elevator ribbon should it collapse? 9. How do scientists expect to avoid roaming satellites from colliding with the ribbon? 10. How long will a trip to the end of the space ribbon take? ________________ 11. What is the estimated cost of the first space elevator? ___________________ 12. Bradley Edwards says that owning the first space elevator would be like owning the only automobile. What does he mean by that? CBC News in Review • April 2004 • Page 48 NEXT FLOOR MARS? THE SPACE ELEVATOR The Visionaries The individuals who are developing the strongest material known—Edwards Definition plans for the construction of the world’s left Los Alamos with a grant from Private vs. public first space elevator come from both the NASA’s Institute for Advanced Con- sector. Private sector generally private and public sectors. NASA, cepts (NIAC) to study the feasibility of refers to businesses through two of its divisions, has been the space elevator concept. Edwards owned by individu- instrumental in encouraging and fund- simplified NASA’s ideas and created als or groups for ing some of the foundation studies that what he calls “the Wright brothers’ their own interests. have outlined the basic requirements for version” (International Herald Tribune, Public sector refers successful completion of an elevator. September 25, 2003)—smaller and to enterprises controlled or Members of the business community cheaper—and the version described in owned by the have also become interested in financ- the video portion of this report. government for the ing, constructing and, ultimately, profit- HighLift Systems, Edwards’ private public interest. ing from the completed project. company, was established in Seattle, One of the space elevator’s most Washington. It became the leading enthusiastic proponents is David research centre for space elevator Further Research Smitherman of NASA’s Advanced development, and concluded that not You can read Projects Office at its Marshall Space only could an elevator be built, it could Smitherman’s initial study “Space Flight Center in Alabama. Smitherman be built within 15, rather than 50 years. Elevator: Technol- led NASA’s first official study of the The last major hurdle was the develop- ogy Development concept in 1999, and sponsored a ment of carbon nanotubes in large Needs” at conference for interested scientists, enough sections to build the transport std.msfc.nasa.gov/ engineers, and space enthusiasts.

Load more

  12

Copy Link