Space elevator robot reaches 1000 feet
We were certain that this was just a "pie in the sky" concept, but apparently engineers are hard at work designing those futuristic space elevators that promise to eventually whisk cargo and humans to the final frontier at a fraction of the cost of rocket-based delivery systems. A new milestone has just been reached in this quest, with Washington state-based LiftPort Group Inc. reporting a successful test run of their "Sword Over Damocles" robot to a height of 1000 feet. Tethered to a large helium-filled balloon, the 23-pound Sword, as it's known, was able to climb up and down the long cable while workers kept the balloon steady with guide ropes. While this technology still has a long way to go, challenges such as NASA's October 21 First Annual Space Elevator Competition at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley are spurring design teams to push the limits of both their robots and the super-strong, carbon nanotube-based ribbons that are key to supporting them.
[Thanks, William]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SD @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Arthur C. Clarke envisioned this in his book 3001: The Final Odyssey. Elevators carried people up to a "ring" space station which surrounded the earth.
SCIFI FAN @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
This concept was actually invented by Arthur C. Clarke in one of his novels, I forget which one. They've been talking about doing this for a while. Problem is debris, storms and seismic shifts.
Roberto @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Thats an amazing idea. Although a small step at the moment, I can see this becoming a normal every day technology just like airplanes.
Gil @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
No the concept was not Clarke's it was first developed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (complete with a lot of the calculations) a russian scientist two centuries ago. I always thought it was rubbish because of the nature of the atmosphere and weather but as long as they're pumping their own money into it I have no problem. In the unlikely chance they do succeed they will revolutionize not only space travel but humanity
Brandon @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Awesome #4. Much better than my response which was going to be "Some russian guy was first smacktards." Although they're still smacktards. I like Jello.
Oh, and one of the nice advantages is that once you hit geosync orbit, you can jsut keep going. Using the momentum you already have, or a Grand Central Station in the stars (Okay, field of space litter), it's a quick shot to the moon, nearby station, etc. Oh, and noodles and fun.
Alex @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
I don't proclaim to be a physics expert by any means, but wouldn't a balloon suspended elevator lose its effectiveness the higher it goes as the atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner? Or is the balloon just a means to initially get the elevator off the ground?
Ken @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
But who's the first guinnea pig to get into the thing? Sure wouldn't be me!
Hughston @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Actually Clarke credits Tsiolkovsky, and expands on the idea in his book 'The Fountains of Paradise' which is well worth a read. I think it's been optioned by Hollywood now, so we may get to see Johnny Depp in the 'Great Glass Elevator' or something..... Or was that Roald Dahl?
Jason Marshall @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
The first guineapig will be inanimate. Indeed the first couple thousand will be. There are two classic ways you get a load-bearing cable across a large expanse (such as when building a suspension bridge). Both start with a very thin cable. The old way then uses the thin cable to pull a bigger cable, then a bigger one, so on and so forth. The way used for modern cabling (post Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge) is to build the thick cable in place. That's what these guys are doing, except with carbon composite ribbons instead of stainless steel strands.
By the time this thing can carry the weight of a human being plus a life support system, hundreds of trips will have been made up the cable just to build it.
Hundreds more will have been made to carry up scientific equipment (satellites, space craft). Hundreds more still will carry up the makings of -another- space elevator.
The first humans on this thing will probably be carried up in a spacecraft, and perhaps thousands of trips will have preceded their trip.
By the time someone builds/repurposes one of these things for civillian human use (and then runs hundreds of trips up that cable to carry a 'somewhere' for people to go once they get to the top), this will be very well-tested tech.
Brad Kent @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
The balloon was just used as a means to test some technology at high altitude.
OMAC @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
#5, the balloon is just for testing purposes. The actual elevator will go beyond the atmosphere and will be anchored by a station at the other end.
Spyvie @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
The idea that a ribbon can be kept aloft by centrifugal force or inertia is counterintuitive to me, regardless of atmospheric or seismic issues. Ill believe in this tech when I see it working.
How about floating a small object on a 300 mile length of very strong kite string just to prove the concept.
Desiri @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
If you are not familiar with the concept a space elevator read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
Spyvie @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
I've been familiar with the concept a space elevator since the press releases about a year ago. I still don't think it will work.
Unless we're talking about a 24000 mile long ribbon.
Joel @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Yes, a 24000-mile ribbon.
dj @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Set in Sri Lanka, Fountains of paradise is one of Clarkes BEST books, (along with 2001, Childhoods end and Rendezvous with Rama). The idea was greatly illustrated by Clarke, though the first seed was not his. No its not an elevator hanging by a balloon, but there are lots of articles out there about it which you should read, its an absolutely fantastic idea. Not just science fiction (which is whats awesome about Clarke, say opposite to Crichton or Asimov. Hey, both of them do rock, but lacks the Clarke element.)
READ FOUNTAINS OF PARADICE THAT BOOK ROCKS!!!
The capitals are intentional. I am dead sure this will come to reality unless something crazy like antigravity is discovered, which cannot be reality for all we know.
SR @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Heh. Arthur C Clarke... "always with the space elevators... oy vey...."
granny down east @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Clarke was a visionary, for sure. I didn't know anyone else ever read Rendezvous, amazing.
Now go and find his "The Nine Billion Names of God" for a take on random number generation. That'll prove to you Clarke was also a writer.
Murc @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
ahhh, no.
It will be 62,000 miles long...not 24k.
I have being keeping tabs on this tech for the last 4 years or so...The concepts have changed a little, They used to envision the cables being shorter and not touch the earth, but stay at 62 miles up, and it would have a hook on it, and you would launch a sub-orbital spacecraft and have the payload meet up with the hook...But since then it has been smoothed out. The concept now is to attatch is to the a floating platform on the ocean where it would be on the equator and a spot with very rare bad weather. The concept is in fact a solid one, LiftPort is planning on having the first real one in 2018...Thats a pretty lofty goal, but progress is right on track...I only wish the rocket builders would put money into this instead of the never changing rocket engine....To bad bill gates ain't sponsoring this...With his checkbook this thing could be built in a decade.
Jason Marshall @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
Tethers, Inc is still working on the skyhook idea. They're also working the micrometeoroid, partial failure angle. Since nothing needs to climb the cable, just be flung about at the end of it, some of their designs look more like fishing net than cable. Where they get into 'crazy talk' is when they start suggesting other mechanisms besides reaction mass (propellant, or flinging dead satellites mercilessly earthward) to move the center-of-mass of the skyhook. I don't think stealing energy from the magnetosphere (which may or may not be setting up for a switch) is such a good idea.
I suspect that if progress on cable strength turns out to be evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, we'll be using skyhooks to build the first space elevator. Since you can build a skyhook that does useful work even at 1% of the length of the space elevator cable, the weight-to-strength ratio isn't as big a deal since the total weight on the upper end of the cable is less. I think Tethers has been experimenting with existing Kevlar and Spectra cabling.
Ariel Boekweg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM
I would like to thank you for your interest in the space elevator and LiftPort. My name is Ariel Boekweg and I am currently working on the project, along with the rest of our team. You can find out more information about us by subscribing to our monthly newsletter, at http://liftport.com/lists.php. With your support you can help us make it happen. Thanks for your interest. Also, if you have any questions about the space elevator you can go to our website www.liftport.com
Sincerely, Ariel Boekweg