New Plans by Scientists to Build a Space Platform Lift

Would you like a trip to outer space? Then take the lift. This is the idea of Canadian company Thoth Technology, which hopes to build an inflatable elevator to space. The idea is to construct a platform lift that can take cargo from the surface of the Earth 20 kilometres (12 miles) into the stratosphere.

Cutting Space-Flight Costs

If successful, this would reduce space-flight costs by nearly one third. An astronaut could board the lift on Earth and ride to the top of the lift tower, from where he or she could be launched into orbit. This would eliminate the needs for huge booster rockets that generate the thrust to lift a spacecraft through the Earth’s atmosphere and against its gravitational pull. Such a lift could also be used for space tourists, who could ride to the top and watch the stars from a closer distance than on Earth.

Old Idea

This is not a new idea. Space elevators were first suggested in 1895 by Kostantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian scientist. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke also suggested a similar construction in 1979 in his novel “The Fountains of Paradise”.

Material Strength

There are few problems to be overcome first. This project needs a very strong material that has yet to be invented. Earlier space elevator designs involved sending a satellite into geostationary orbit – a point in space called the Lagrange point where the gravitational forces of the Earth and Moon work so that the satellite remains stationary relative to the motion of both – and then extending a tether from it to Earth. The lift and its cargo would then move along this tether.

But no material exists that could have a sufficient tensile strength and be light enough. A tower housing the space elevator could be built using pneumatic cells of Kevlar or polyethylene. The cells would be filled with gas to create a strong and rigid structure that is capable of holding up its own huge mass. The pneumatic pressure could be used to turn and lean the tower away from problematic events such as hurricanes. Stability could be ensured by mounting thrusters in various positions along the tower’s length.

Energy Issues

Having enough energy to power the cars within the elevator is the big hurdle to overcome. Not only must this energy power movement up and down the tower, but it must also be used to provide a comfortable, oxygen-rich environment within the cars to enable human travel. One suggestion has been to use pneumatic pressure to move the cars within the structure’s core, just like old-fashioned message systems that were popular between the 1930s and the 1960s.

Thoth is hoping to design a lifting mechanism that could combine pneumatic, magnetic, electrical and induction forces so that the elevators cars are self-powered.

Scale Model

The work will begin by building a scale model of the platform lift for space travel that will be 1.5 kilometres high to test the Thoth concept. The project could take between three and five years, and the cost is estimated at between US $5 billion and US $10 billion. If this is successful, the full-size version could take another three years at least to build.