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Express Elevator to Space: Fiction Or Reality?

Catwell

imageA Japanese research team is working on building an “elevator” that would make space exploration cheaper and less polluting. Image is a preview of what a space “elevator” might look like. (via Obayashi Corporation)

For adults, it is an escape from the daily stress into a world where everything is possible. Japanese “anime” (animated movies) often challenges human imagination, but recently some of them have been turned into motion pictures such as “My Hero Academia” and “Dragon Ball Z.” While computer programs can simulate a lot of scenes in a motion picture, a Japanese company is pushing much further with a project that would use a vertical railroad to send packages and people into space, just like in the anime “Galaxy Express 999.” But, the show might become a reality.

Let me elaborate; in “Galaxy Express 999”, there a train that travels from planet to planet across the entire universe. On earth, that train uses a railroad that starts on the ground and grows into the limits of the planet’s atmosphere where the train takes off and continue its journey. Typical sci-fi movie feature. However, the Obayashi Corporation in Japan believes they could create a similar road, in a vertical position, that would carry things and people into space. They have mentioned it a couple of years ago and believe that if multiple countries invest in the project, it could be achieved by 2050. The company estimated that the vertical railroad would be about 59,000 miles (96,000 km) long, way pass the earth’s atmosphere and into space. Attached to the railroad will be some robotic “wagons” run with magnetic linear motors which are currently used in Asia and Europe for high-speed trains.

Given that the railroad will reach further than the International Space Station (at 330km of altitude), Obayashi researchers are planning for a new space station at the end of the new railroad. But how is it even possible? Can a structure that tall exist with today's technology?

To those questions, the leader of the Obayashi research team, Yoji Ishikawa, replied “carbon nanotechnology.” He explains that the “railroad” will actually be a cable which is a hundred times stronger than steel. Unfortunately, the research team hasn’t been able to make the cable long enough for a reasonable test. They were able to build only 3-cm nanotubes and think that by 2030, they will have all the tools necessary to build the real cable. They are helped by various team across the country, including a team at Kanagawa University which is attempting to solve the challenge of making the robotic cars reach various heights and braking when necessary.

The Obayashi Corporation believes that their project will reduce not only the financial cost of space exploration but also the burden the exploration place on the environment. To date, it costs 22,000 dollars for every kilogram of payload sent into space; but the research team thinks the new “railroad” will offer the same service for about a hundredth of that price. In addition, the cable-railroad could also supply cheaper solar energy, and the magnetic motors will ensure that the system doesn’t pollute as much as the rockets powered by chemical fuels would.

So far, the project seems feasible; especially if many research teams get involved. There is even a consortium created to supervise the creation of that “elevator”: The International Space Elevator Consortium which has high hopes for the project. However, some of the leaders in space exploration don’t believe in it. Elon Musk whose company has achieved a few feats lately believes that a space transportation system of such is too complicated. At an MIT conference, he went as far as saying that it would be easier to build a bridge connecting Japan to the west side of United States than to build that “elevator.” But who knows? Maybe his company will end up helping in the project.

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  • in reply to mcb1

    In order to be stable and vertical the tower would have to be tethered at the equator and its center of gravity would have to be at or beyond the point of geostationary orbit 35,786 km above the surface of the Earth. As one moved elevator and cargo up and down the line there would need to be a way to keep the center of gravity at the stationary orbit point or the system would destabilize. If we add in the impossibility of deploying such a system it is obvious that this is just a thought experiment cooked up by an engineering department to get grant money from people who didn't learn their physics.

  • This mythical story was about years ago.

    Not sure exactly how the end in space is going to to be able to keep the cable suspended, and then there is the issue of weather affecting it within the earths atmosphere.

     

    I've just watched a program about space junk, and they are tracking somehwere in the order of 22,000 items bigger than a baseball at the current moment.

    The theory was they are going to improve the technolgy and they expect to track 200,000 items all of which can cause major problems.

     

    At the moment they move the space station and other satellites out of the way of larger debris, but this is going to have a problem that the tether will be the bit that potentally is the biggest problem.

     

    I'm adding this one to the "we'll all be talking to our computers and not using a keyboard".

     

    Mark

  • Besides the energy needed to lift the elevator and payload there would be a need for energy to accelerate the elevator and payload in the direction of the Earth's rotation on the way up as the elevator and payload will have greater angular momentum the further up it goes. As the elevator descends it will have to be negatively accelerated to compensate for the lower momentum needed the closer to the earth that it comes. Failure to provide these compensatory accelerations will make the system unstable. Further whatever the cable is tethered to in space will also have to have the ability to be accelerated or decelerated as the force needed to lift a mass from the surface will require and equal and opposite force from the tether object and the energy for this force will have to come from the angular momentum of the tether object. If one wants it to stay directly above the Earth anchor point it will need energy and the ability to adjust its orbit. The energy costs of this system are not trivial and if the initial costs are added in it is doubtful that it would be practical. I have seen one version of this or another kicked around for the last 25 years. It makes for a good thought experiment but is in my opinion just that.

    John