A space elevator between the Earth and the Moon can become a reality

Agree, today only the lazy did not hear aboutspace elevator. For the first time, the idea of ​​such a structure, which will help launch cargo into space without the use of rockets, was expressed by the founder of the Russian cosmonautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895. Later, in 1960, the Leningrad engineer Yuri Artsutanov began to develop this idea. Like the French writer Jules Verne, who wrote a novel about a man’s journey to the moon in 1865, Tsiolkovsky and Artsutanov were ahead of their time. Our regular readers know that the creation of a space elevator is possible and we have repeatedly written about this. Recently, scientists from Cambridge and California universities published a study, the results of which say that the new construction of the elevator can significantly simplify space travel.

The space elevator has long been described in science fiction novels.

What you need to know about the space elevator

No wonder that the first idea about thisconstruction interested in science fiction. It is no secret that Charles Arthur Clark, when writing the novel “Fountains of Paradise”, came to Yury Artsutanov for consultations in Leningrad. Of course, do not forget that it was the heyday of science fiction and ideas about space exploration.

Times have changed. What seemed fiction in the last century, the present century turns into reality. Surely you read that scientists want to build a space elevator by 2050. And yet, let's figure out what the so-called space elevator is.

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In modern understanding, the idea of ​​a space elevatoris that special vehicles deliver people and cargo to the satellite surface of our planet. To do this, you will need to build an orbital station on the moon. The main component of this vehicle should be a durable cable that will stretch from the surface of the Earth to the Moon.

This may look like a space elevator in the artist's view

According to the developers of the Japanese companyObayashi, who announced their intention to build a space elevator for 30 years, will cost such shipments much less than using rockets. In view of economic benefits, many people are ready to support the idea of ​​a space elevator.

What do scientists offer this time?

Driven by the idea of ​​cost reductionspace travel, scientists have proposed a new type of space elevator - the space line. In their study, scientists describe that the cosmic line will be “tied” to the surface of the moon, dropping into a geostationary orbit around the Earth.

Surprisingly real, this proposal also makesthe fact that the space line can be built from existing materials, which increases the likelihood of light space travel and, possibly, even the creation of orbital settlements. Agree, convenient. Indeed, instead of launching rockets from orbit, astronauts will need to reach the end point of the cosmic line.

According to the authors of the study, this line will becomepart of the infrastructure, very similar to the early railway - the movement of people and objects of use along it is much simpler and easier than the same journey into deep space. Terrestrial space elevators would be too burdensome for any existing material - a strong gravitational pull of the Earth and the speed of rotation of our planet would lead to the rupture of the cable.

Possible view of the Earth from a space elevator

Therefore, scientists believe that riskcatastrophic collapse will decrease if the space line is tied only to the moon. According to experts, carbon nanotubes will be the best material for use in construction. It should be noted that at this stage, scientists did not take into account the probability of collision of space debris in near-Earth orbit with the space line.

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If the ideas expressed by scientists can be implementedin life, in the future, humanity will use the comic line as a tethered device for orbiting telescopes, research centers and other objects that can hang at the Lagrange point - at the height at which the Moon is located, and the Earth exerts an equal but opposite gravitational force.

It’s hard to say how everything will turn out in reality. What is not food for the mind of science fiction writers?