Future of space travel - space elevator
How can we launch to space small spaceships for 2-10 persons for a cruise around Earth orbit? Contemporary rockets are too heavy and too expensive, they use too much fuel and the friction force heats and destroys rockets' outer surface. Instead, let's build a huge elevator to space. The first idea of an elevator was suggested by space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: he talked about a tether reaching from the surface of Earth to the height of geostationary orbit. My idea is to build a vertical reduced-pressure Tube which is balanced by a space station on the top. A cannon shoots space capsules into the Tube. The Tube is free of air resistance and friction, and the capsule's mass is really small, so it gets a fast acceleration. At the level of upper atmosphere, there is the second stage of acceleration: huge solar panels are deployed and they give energy to ion thrusters. Since light intensity outside Earth is super high with lots of radiation, that energy creates a huge kick-start.
Public Clarification Board
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cbeffa
- 6 years ago
Elon is known to openly despise the space elevator concept.
- 6 years ago
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Contest Holder - 6 years ago
It's a pretty ambitious concept but who knows, right? Thanks for your entry. Good design!
- 6 years ago
