The Raptor team of Nihon University (Japan), led by Yoshio Aoki, Professor in the Department of Engineering and Precision Instruments, has already participated in four European Space Elevator Challenge (translated into Spanish as European Space Elevator Challenge) prepared by the Technical University of Munich (Germany), where they are testing the feasibility of mechanical structures.
“The honeycomb-like design allowed the main frame to be as hollow as possible, thus reducing weight by 60% while achieving sufficient rigidity and an attractive appearance,” said Kaishu Koike, a member of the Raptor team, responsible for programming. vignette.
Based on simulations, the university researchers achieved an ascent speed of 110 km / h; They preserved the effectiveness of the braking system by applying the maximum weight. In this way, eight 1.1-kilogram payloads were successfully transported, in contrast to the first rigorous tests.
In the words of Yoshio Aoki, Technique The transport space elevator will not be available before 2030. However, security protocols for induced and chance disasters have not yet been established; Therefore, “if there are more companies supporting it,” the new system will be built in real proportions.
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China is also considering its own space elevator
As part of the roadmap for future space missions to Mars, in June this year, Wang Xiaojun, director of the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), integrated the construction of a space elevator. He made his remarks at the World Conference on Space Exploration (GLEX 2021).
According to Global Times, this plan consists of three steps: sending androids to collect samples from the Martian environment and explore the surface; inhabited mission whose members build settlements; And moving the freight fleet through a space elevator called Heaven’s ladder , as a starting point.
An educational image of the parts of a virtual space elevator. Photo: Oswaldogomezwiki / Wikipedia
Transporting goods to the Moon, for example, would represent only 4% of the current cost. The difference is clear.
Communications portal Sina News stated that the manned missions will be carried out at five different times: 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041 and 2043.
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The space elevator in fantasy
British writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) published his book The Sources of Heaven (1979), an event that earned him fame as one of the greatest promoters of space elevators. However, there is disagreement as to whether the origin of the idea originated from the mind Charles Sheffield, a physicist who touched on the same topic in his novel “The Spider’s Web Between Worlds” (1979).
Arthur C Clarke and his book Fountains of Paradise. Photo: Orbita Laika/Twitter
Clarke elaborated the details and interventions of the 30th International Astronautical Congress in the same year with his speech entitled “The Space Elevator: A Thought Experiment or the Key to the Universe”.
Some references to technology:
In the first person shooter video game Halo In Toph’s Travels by George RR Martin (Game of Thrones) In the fourth season of Star Wars: the clone wars, in Episode 86, Bounty In the books of the Three Bodies Trilogy by Liu Zixin.
With or without an elevator connecting our planet to the vastness of the sky, commercial space tourism will take its last step of success, an escape from the imagination, thanks to the advancement of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, two companies convinced that humanity deserves to jump to another level of interaction with the vast universe. Other enthusiasts will undoubtedly join the race.
