Space elevator: bold idea could become reality by 2030

By Dick Pelletier

 

       Welcome to the Liftport Space Elevator. Our first stop will be the Bigelow Sky Hotel where some of you will begin your vacation among the stars. We will then continue on to the GEO area, 22,300 miles high where the rest of you will board a Virgin Shuttlecraft and continue to your destinations. For your convenience, the elevator is Internet-enabled allowing contact with loved ones on Earth. The trip takes seven days, so relax in your luxury suite and enjoy the beautiful views from space.

       Although this sounds like science fiction, and indeed for the past 30 years that is how most people viewed this audacious idea; but science has recently made huge advances in nanotech which will soon, experts say, provide all the materials necessary for this daring dream to come true.

       The basic concept works like this: a rocket-launched satellite will drop a ribbon made from carbon nanotubes to a Pacific Ocean platform. The ribbon will extend 62,000 miles high, and powered by laser-generated electricity, will lift loads of people and freight into space at 120 mph.

       In hopes that the space elevator will replace costly rockets now used to haul payloads into space, NASA has put up $2 million in prize money for entrepreneurs to develop this ground-breaking technology.

       Liftport Group's Michael Lane and Spaceward Foundation's Brad Edwards will join an enthusiastic group of scientists competing for the NASA prize money at this fall's Space Elevator Games in the Arizona desert. The money will be awarded to those who can create stronger cables for carrying loads into space and better energy beams to power the elevator cars.

       Proponents predict the space elevator will lower costs of hauling stuff into space from $10,000 per-pound today, to $400; and when additional elevators become available, competition could eventually drop prices to $10 per-pound. A 180-pound person could travel to space for $1,800.

       "As soon as we can build it, we should build it," claims Los Alamos space expert Bryan Laubsher. Just as the transcontinental railroad opened the West in 1869, "I feel the space elevator will create a similar paradigm shift in space access," he said.

       Spaceward Foundation experts predict the space elevator could be built in the following timeline:

1. By 2010, design, develop and prove ribbon and power source reliability; $5 million costs.

2. By 2015, source, design and develop major components; $200 million costs.

3. By 2020, source, design and develop remaining components; $200 million costs.

4. By 2030, build, test, and launch finished system with permits, insurance; $10 billion costs.

       Advocates predict that economical space access will provide synergy to other projects too. Entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Robert Bigelow hope to get private citizens in space for vacations and jobs, which could spark a multi-billion dollar space tourism industry. The space elevator could also help create the most lucrative commerce effort in history – asteroid mining.

       Could this wild dream be accomplished in just 22 years? Positive futurists believe that it can. In the 2030s, going into space could be as simple as stepping into an elevator and saying, "Geostationary orbit please." Get ready for this most amazing and awe-inspiring "magical future."

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.