An elevator is space, ever thought about the thought? If you haven’t, know that there have been umpteen scientists and sci-fi writers that have been dreaming about it for a long time now. The news is, this dream is already in the process of realization and none other than Japan, the country of the rising sun is behind pioneering its way to build an elevator that works in space.
The first trial of this space elevator is going to take place on September, 2018 by the team of Shizouka University who have developed it. The ride will commence on H-2B rocket’s vehicle no 7. This vehicle will be launched from Tanegashima’s Southern Island.
The elevator is apparently just a miniature test version – a 6cms x 3cms x 3cms. The concept involves moving the elevator on a cable that is 10 meter long and is suspended amid two satellites to keep it snug.
The elevator will commute through a container in one of the satellites and will be monitored using cameras. Though as per the scientists designing a workable elevator in space still is a distant goal still if goes a success can become a channel for regular travel to international space station.
The concept of space elevator goes back to over a century when in the year 1895 Russian Scientist Konstatin Tsiolkovsky proposed it after visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The plan to build this elevator did not click only because of the technical snags around it. The concept theoretically involved the used of a cable tethered to earth around the equator area because the weather there isn’t violent. As per David Smitherman of Nasa, the elevator system needs the center of mass to be
A geostationary orbit also needs an equatorial base site because it aligns properly with them. The elevator system would consist of cables around the earth in orbit. Around four to six elevator tracks would be extending at different levels from sides of the tower reaching out to different platforms for various levels. These tracks are designed for a travel speed of thousands of kms per hour as per NASA’s report.
As per NASA if the plan of an space elevator is realized it could allow people to reach the space station at an extremely low cost. Having said that, NASA also said that it is far to soon think of that day. But Japan has definitely paved its way to the realization of this dream and its only Japan that can realize it perhaps. The Japanese construction firm Obayashi is collaborating with Shizuoka university while working on creating its own space elevator for sending tourists to space by 2050.