The idea of having a space elevator to transport things from earth to space has fascinated humans since the inception of space exploration as it is believed to be a cheaper, safer and quicker mode of voyage. Though the concept is yet to materialise, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has designed elevator buttons that crew members use to board spaceships, representing the imagined concept.
SpaceX CEO Musk on Thursday tweeted the photo of the elevator’s button captioning it “Space Elevator”. SpaceX has scheduled a Crew-6 mission on Monday and this pic is from inside the tower elevator that will be used by astronauts as they arrive on pad to go to the access arm and board Dragon spacecraft for their flight to space. (ALSO READ: AI threatens to ruin career, expose personal data of user during a conversation. Elon Musk reacts)
What are space elevators?
It is a concept theorised to make access to space easier on the basis of daily use of elevators where origin and destination is earth and space. Space elevators are hypothetical structures that would allow objects and people to be transported from the earth’s surface into space without the use of rockets.
Once built, various calculations show that it would reduce space travel cost by just hundred dollars per kilogram of payload, much less than the modern rockets on chemical fuel.
However, apart from technological challenges, the construction of an elevator requires huge financial investments. (ALSO READ: Elon Musk fires Twitter staff again despite promises of no more layoffs: Report)
How can space elevators be made?
Space elevator enthusiasts have hypothesised many techniques to build it, some very simple while some hard to even comprehend for a normal person, but still all remain on paper as anything concrete is yet to come.
One of the ways in which the space elevators can be made possible is suggested by a Soviet engineer Yuriy Artsutanov, who is often credited as being the first to begin developing the Space Elevator concept. Back in the 60s, Artsutanov illustrated the concept in his now famous essay “Electric train to the cosmos” based on the principle of centrifugal force that counteracts the force of gravity. The essay says, the elevator can be accomplished by stretching a cable from the earth’s equator into space and hanging a load on it to prevent it from falling back to Earth. He added the cable would need to be extremely long, up to 50-60 thousand kilometres, and the load suspended from it would need to be heavy enough to balance the weight of the cable.
However, Artsutanov knew that this concept, even so simple, would require complex engineering as he predicted that it would take 200 years to build the machine. Though, a more optimistic, English science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke said that the space elevator would be built “about 50 years after everyone stops laughing.”
Musk’s views on space elevators
Elon Musk, who wants to ‘colonise Mars’ believes space elevators are not realistic. In an interview, he said that he thinks it is much easier to build a bridge between Los Angeles and Tokyo than to build an elevator to orbit. However, he expressed hope that he would be wrong in his assessment.