The Science And Vision of the Next BIG STEP
Babylon is a concept of skipping the awesome sound & light show from launch and sailing in style into space by using a man-made elevator. It may very sound like some science fiction, but frankly the idea of space elevator has been given serious thought by scientists, engineers and futurists for good 3 decades.
As the dream of low cost, clean and frequent access to space becomes a global imperative, the space elevator is once again making news.
Part one of a longer series takes you through the science, design and promise of this game-changing concept. The final part will deal with technical hurdles, political implications and economic considerations for actual execution.
What is a Space Elevator?
Earth to space: A space elevator is a proposed solution to orbital access where materials and even humans would be transported robotically or via cable cars (without using rockets).
It would tie to the Earth’s surface (most likely near the equator) and head up into geosynchronous orbit, with a counterweight balancing gravity against centrifugal force. The array would facilitate cargo and passengers from space stations through satellites all the way to an interplanetary missions at a fraction of the present price.
Origins of the Idea
The idea was first expressed by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895 when he saw the Eiffel Tower. He pictured a tower reaching up into space where you could theoretically get orbital access. His version was physically impossible, but the concept lived long into the 20th century.
From the 1960s and onward, researchers started to seriously look at tethers as well as materials such as ultra high-strength fabrics to suspend an orbiting elevator. In the 2000s, it gained more steam with the onset of nanotechnology and carbon nanotubes being nearly a give for strength necessary in such a future system.
The Space Elevator – Let’s Get Started – How it Works (Core Components)
1. The Tether
The space elevator depends on one core component, the tether — a super long fiber (more than 35,000 kilometers in length) that snakes from Earth to geostationary orbit. The tether mankind needs for this premise to be true must be nearly weightless and stiff enough to avoid snapping under its own self weight.
These are the materials of today, but carbon nanotubes and graphene in particular have very high values of Young’s modulus and low density as super materials currently.
2. WEAP (ANCHOR or Base Station)
The anchor has to be on or near the equator to get the benefit of and lift using an atmosphere mass. It could look like an ocean platform that floats, to ensure to stay the tether taut and that no earthquake damage or political instability negate our fixing to be stuck there.
3. Counterweight
Tethered, at the distal end of which 2000 miles away from geosychronous orbit, a counterweight of sorts — probably a captured asteroid or manufactured mass that acts as The Earth continues to spin, keeping the tether in place in a centrifugal balancing act.
4. Climbers (Elevator Cars)
The robotic climbers would climb and haul back along the tether on wireless transmitted energy in one concept using high-power lasers or microwaves. Such climbers would haul cargo, satellites and probably people into space at a tiny fraction of current launch costs.
Why Build a Space Elevator?
Looper: Why are Space Elevators necessary
🚀 Massive Cut in the Budget
Launch payload from standard rockets is tons of MONEY, $10,000 per kg! A space elevator would bring the kilogram to nearly $100 per kilogram, opening the way for space access and large enough projects like lunar base, or eventually orbital solar power stations, or life on Mars.
🌱 Environmentally Friendly
The launch of rockets is major greenhouse gas producer and primarily causes ozone depletion. A space-elevator would tap into renewable electric power for clean, green space travel.
🔁 Unlimited Throughput
Rockets are constrained in size (what can you launch) by launch windows and weather. A space elevator could even move cargo indefinitely, like a superhighway — only never needs fuel, once and forever freeing logistics for orbit.
↔️ Safe, Reusable and Orbit-Ready
Because a space elevator works mechanically, there are no explosions and no re-usable rocket vehicles and launch delays for bad weather. If maintained correctly it would provide scheduled and repeatable launches to space.
Top Candidates for Research
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Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs): high theoretical strength ~100x material of steel but manufacturing of a long continuous drag grown is not possible still.
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Graphene: incredibly strong per unit of weight but has identical scalability problems.
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Boron Nitride Nanotubes: A second option that also has high mechanical strength and much better radiation tolerance
We need to manufacture hundreds of thousands of kilometers of these perfect nanomaterials in order to create a capable elevator and as far as labs can currently do.
Overview of Design Alternatives and Early Prototypes
There are additionally some research or scaled-down alternatives with several other organizations:
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Tethered Towers: Vertical structures extending tens of kilometer into the stratosphere as launch sites.
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Orbital Testbeds: Satellites testing micro-tether technologies for space debris remediation.
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Lunar levitation towers — a supereasy proposition with lunar gravity so much less and no atmosphere to degrade a free-fall rail.
Obayashi Corporation (Japan) and others like the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) are calling for early infrastructure to be built. NASA has also funded tether and climber research via its innovation programs.
Can We Make a Tether from Earth?
Oddly, the best method to manufacture a space elevator might be launching the tether from orbit rather than launching from the surface of Earth. Here’s how:
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Geostationary orbit spacecraft releases the tether downwards into Earth, and upwards at the same rate for a counterweight.
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Robotic systems can be used once the anchor point on the Earth: in some ten years and growing stronger.
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In future years other tethers or “ribbons” might be thrown up sparing and load sharing
Instead, this orbital-first methodology takes many of the issues that weather, atmosphere and gravity pose to our planet.
The Chasm of Engineering: Why Not Right Now
The space elevator concept itself is pretty elegant, but turning it into a physical structure creates problems on an extraordinary scale in terms of engineering.
1. Material Production and Scaling
If we get perfect materials such as carbon nanotubes or graphene, we have to manufacture them into millions of kilometers of continuous fiber. These only few centimeters long fibers are expensive to produce.
Mass producing these type of materials with consistent proportions, no imperfections and the right alignment is an obstacle that demands nanomanufacturing breakthroughs, and maybe the appearance of self-assemble material technology.
2. Atmospheric Hazards
The tether has to endure:
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High-altitude winds and jet streams
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Lightning bolts and storms
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Corrosion in upper atmosphere by oxygen atom
The consequences could be cascading oscillations or even wear onto the tether caused by these stressors. A potential solution is with the aid of passive vibration dampening and active electromagnetic shielding for the cable and climbers.
3. Space Debris and Micrometeoroids
More satellites means more space junk. A collision even with a small object at orbital speeds would sever or badly damage the tether. Solutions include:
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Advanced radar, predictive algorithms
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Autonomous repair drones
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Positioning tether in orbital inclination zones
4. Climber Power Supply
Devices like robotic climbers require a lot of power to move thousands of kilometres against gravity. Options include:
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Laser power beaming
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Microwaves (more weather resistant)
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On-board batteries or fuel cells (less efficient)
Each solution comes at a trade-off in cost, safety, and technical feasibility.
Legal, Geopolitical and Ethical Terrains
1. Ownership and Jurisdiction
Who owns the space elevator? If the base is in international waters, whose national law applies? What about space law?
Top legal experts propose a new domain of law, balancing sovereignty with the right to access and use space.
2. Weaponization Risk
A space elevator is a strategic asset. If one nation controls it, they gain military reach into orbit. To prevent abuse, some propose placing it under UN control, similar to the International Space Station.
3. Economic Disruption
Space elevators could disrupt entire sectors:
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Rocket companies
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Satellite launchers
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Space tourism
But it could lead to new orbital economies — from asteroid mining to solar orbit tourism. Early investors stand to gain most.
Lunar and Martian Space Elevator: First Simpler to Build
Ironically, building a space elevator on Earth was not the best first choice. The Moon and Mars offer better options.
Why the Moon?
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No atmosphere → no wind, lightning or weather
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Gravity is 1/6th of Earth’s
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Less space debris
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Regular rotation
On the Moon, we could construct a space elevator from Kevlar or Zylon, far cheaper than graphene nanotubes. This supports early ISRU (in-situ resource utilization) projects.
Mars Elevators
Mars has lower gravity and a thinner atmosphere. This makes exporting water, minerals or fuel to orbit or Earth more viable. Developing such elevators is a testbed for Earth versions.
Longest Term Goal: Road to the Stars
When that happens, the space elevator becomes the backbone of planetary colonization and supports a multiplanetary civilization.
Potential Transformations:
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Orbital Manufacturing
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Tourism & Space Habitats
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Interplanetary Gateways
StarTram Alternative
To die-hard tethers men, the StarTram is a competing idea: a 100 km long launch tube using maglev tech — possibly easier to build and coexists with elevator infrastructure.
Wrapping Up: From Science Fiction to Science
The space elevator is the most audacious of all megastructure ideas. The science stands, but we need breakthroughs in materials, engineering, safety, and international governance.
The Gain?
A clean, safe, revolutionary way to orbit — one that might change how we live, forever.
🚀 Do we have to take the ribbon in time? Maybe. And if we will, this may be one of the greatest things that mankind has ever done.
