With just two weeks left before the Space Elevator Games in New Mexico, advocates of the space elevator concept have come out with two publications outlining their ideas and the challenges ahead. One is a revised road map for building what is basically a railway to outer space, while the other provides fresh words of encouragement from the concept’s most famous advocate: science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.
First, the road map: That came out this week from the LiftPort Group, a venture based in Bremerton, Wash. LiftPort recently concluded a weeks-long test of a balloon-borne platform that represents a baby step toward a space elevator system. Such a system calls for robotic climbers to carry payloads up a super-strong ribbon of carbon nanotubes extending tens of thousands of miles into orbit.
At one time, LiftPort was counting down toward the deployment of the first space elevator in 2018 – but the company has acknowledged that date is way too ambitious. In its road map, LiftPort says it will take that long, or longer, just to develop nanotubes that might be strong enough for the job. The revised date for finishing that first elevator is 2031 – and LiftPort has set up a public online database for technical questions that will need to be answered between now and then.
The other publication is “Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator,” a book written by Brad Edwards and Philip Ragan. Edwards is one of the engineering gurus behind the concept’s current configuration, and Ragan has proposed building the elevator somewhere around his own Australian hometown, Perth.
“Leaving the Planet” lays out the space elevator vision in plain English, starting out with a foreword from Clarke. The science-fiction great, best-known for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” didn’t come up with the idea of building a railway in the sky, but he enlarged upon the idea in a 1979 novel, “The Fountains of Paradise.” That book, and Clarke’s other writings about the space elevator, have made him into a prophet of sorts for folks like Edwards and Ragan.
Here are excerpts from the foreword, provided by Ragan:
“For years, I used to say: ‘The Space Elevator will be built 50 years after everyone has stopped laughing.’ Well, the laughing stopped a few years ago, and the idea has advanced rapidly during the past decade. …
“Dr Brad Edwards, the co-author of this book, is a physicist who was drawn to this challenge. Having studied the problem in great depth and detail, Brad has made it his life’s mission to construct a Space Elevator. Indeed, the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation recognised his efforts when he was presented the Arthur C. Clarke Innovator Award 2005. …
“Edwards and Ragan are confident that the first Space Elevator could be built and operational by 2029.That’s an appropriate year as it marks 60 years since the first Moon landing and 50 years after ‘Fountains’ was published.”
The folks at LiftPort already have put together an anthology of writings as well, titled “LiftPort.” (How on earth did they come up with that title?) And as climber and tether teams get ready for this month’s games, you can keep up with the latest via the Space Elevator Reference and the Space Elevator Blog.
