Our universe is all surrounded by mystical things and keeps us amazing on time to time. We humans try to find answers to such questions but still some questions remain unanswered and leave us confused and compelling us to believe in an energy whose truth is far hidden from us.
One such invention or thinking of our scientists is amazing the mankind which is termed as “ space elevator”. People are curious to know about this , purpose ,it’s function and obviously how it will help the mankind. So let’s find answers to these questions.
What is space elevator?
Space elevator can be conceived and understood as a cable that is being fixed to the equator and will reach out to the space. The elevator’s upper end which is actually a counter weight will be hooked to the center of mass in alignment with the geostationary orbit level. This arrangement shall produce enough upward centrifugal force from earth’s
rotation in order to fully correspond to the downward gravity in a manner that shall keep the cable upright and taut.
How shall space elevator shall work?
The cable that shall be attached to the one end of earth’s surface that will be having massive counterweight at other end that will revolve around geostationary orbit ( 35, 786 km). The gravitational pull will force the cable downward and in other side the centrifugal force from the orbiting counterweight shall pull it upward.
Components of space elevator be made of
A space elevator shall be made of carbon nanotubes in which composite ribbon will be anchored to an offshore sea platform that will eventually stretch to a small counterweight approximately 62,000 miles into the space.
What’s the need of space elevator?
The whole idea of space elevator is to allow movement of vehicles to travel in space without travelling through rocket. Though the speed shall be less than rocket but the ride shall be smooth leading to less use of explosives as compared to rocket.
Cost of building a Space elevator
It’s quite uncertain to estimate the cost of space elevator and as compared to cost of building a rocket which is around $ 400 million one can guess the estimated cost of space elevator.
How long it will take to reach space through space elevator?
It is been said that a 30 passenger climber designed space elevator shall take around 7.5 day trip to GEO level with the speed of 200 kilometres per hour.
Feasibility of this concept
Dreaming is easy but it’s execution requires real power. For NASA this concept of space elevator is realistic and sound able and they hope it to turn it into reality. According to source, the “ OBAYASHI CORP” a global construction firm based in Tokyo is working on this project with a believe to launch one in year 2050 while China is also in race to built one around year 2045.
Research and experiments related to space elevators
To examine the real feasibility of space elevator , a group of researchers from Shizuoka University in Japan are trying to create one such on a small scale. It will be the first experiment to test elevator movement in vacuum of space.