Space Elevator: Going Up? Only in Japan. Science Future

Space Elevator - Future Dreamed by Scientists.

Keeping with my theme of "Stay Creative, It's Good For You," I found this story irresistible. Japan company, Obayashi Corp, says a space elevator could be realized by 2050.

Why hitch a ride on a rocket when the Russians have already shown us how buggy and failure prone they can be.  Then there is the Challenger and the danger of re-entry that claimed the Columbia shuttle.  Going to space (and coming back) is dangerous.

One alternative to strapping explosives to your back and exploding into space is the idea of a space elevator.  This curiously science-fiction piece of architecture may soon grace the Japan sky - or should I say Space - line.

Obayashi Corp is going to stay creative by trying to get this off the ground, and they aren't shooting for the sky; they are shooting much farther.

The proposed space elevator will be stretched into space with cables made from carbon nano-tubes and held aloft by a yet to be designed counter-weight 96,000km above the earth's surface.  It is kind of like tying a rock to a string and swinging it around your head.  Now imagine your head as large as the earth.

The benefit? Safer and cheaper travel to an orbit outside of the earth's atmosphere and a port for further expansion into space.  The challenges?  The elevator will travel at a mere 200km per hour, meaning a week long elevator ride to get to the first pit stop at 36,000 kilometers up.  Perhaps the view will be fantastic, no doubt, but seven and a half days of elevator music and there will be a space horror before the second day.

Joking aside, the idea is insanely advantageous and creative.  Excellent gumshoe! Stay Creative Japan, It's Good For You!

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