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Canadian firm patents 20-km high space elevator
Highlights
A Canadian firm has been granted a US patent for an elevator that would extend to 20 km above the Earth’s surface and take astronauts at least part way into space.
A Canadian firm has been granted a US patent for an elevator that would extend to 20 km above the Earth’s surface and take astronauts at least part way into space.
The elevator, if ever built by Thoth Technology, will offer an exciting new way to access space using completely reusable hardware and saving more than 30 per cent of the fuel of a conventional rocket.
“Astronauts would ascend to 20 km by electrical elevator. From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refuelling and relight,” said inventor Dr Brendan Quine. First proposed by Russian space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and popularised by Sir Arthur C Clarke in his novel The Fountains of Paradise, the space elevator can carry passengers and cargo from the Earth’s surface and into geosynchronous orbit about 36,000 km up.
Such a cosmic lift would move payloads much more efficiently at an estimated cost of $220 per kg, which is a considerable saving on present costs of $25,000 per kg. An elevator system would also have other advantages, such as being geographically fixed, and being able to carry out many of the functions of a satellite, Gizmag reported.
The modest design of the Thoth tower aims to get around these limitations. According to the patent granted on July 21, the tower would be only 20 km high and about 230 mt in diameter. The elevator could launch satellite payloads from the deck or pods attached to the tower. The tower itself would be made of reinforced inflatable sections with an interior elevator tower made of multiple, pneumatically-reinforced segments.
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