Getting to orbit...space elevator.

[radag...@gmail.com]

Looks like the US has a real conundrum on its hands, coming when the
Shuttle is retired. No way to ferry 'nauts back and forth, unless
some commercial vaporware becomes real. I personally feel, what with
the giant pentagon budgets year after year, that the Air force could
donate a launcher and some man-hours to this problem. Say, a Titan IV
launcher, and design a relatively simple 3-person capsule, to just get
people back and forth. Temporary solution for until the Orion/Ares is
finally working. This would be better than giving 2 billion dollars
to the russians for their Soyuz (1960s stuff) capsules. Along these
lines of thought, was cogitating on what it would take to build a
real, honest-to-goodness Space elevator.

First, assemble a very large ring, in orbit approx. 200 Miles above
the Earth, over, say, Hawaii or even Colorado. Next, assemble several
large furnaces, capable of smelting ores into metals, and position
these near the Ring point. Meanwhile, several-to-many missions to
corral and move asteroid material from wherever it can be found, to an
assembly point near the ring. The material would have to be ground
up, separated out, and any useful ores either stockpiled, or smelted
on the spot, to gain a useful alloy, whith which to construct the
Shaft. First, a simulated shaft segment could be designed on the
ground. This could be designed with the simplest possible materials
in mind, say, steel, aluminum and copper, or instance. Some
prospecting missions would need to be launched to asteroids, to
determine location of any ores needed. Also, some mining off of the
Moon might just be cheaper, and simpler to do.

Once a source of ores in space is determined, an estimate of tonnage
of ore will be needed to finish the job. Requirement is for a 180 to
200-mile long shaft of super-hardened metals, to be smelted in space,
and once the whole shaft is done, to be lowered down onto the earth,
like a giant hollow, square piece. This way, you do not have to build
up into stratosphereic winds, that threaten to tear apart any
potential construction. by positioning and lowering down something
very hard, you can get through the windy portions of the atmosphere
relatively quickly, and the winds will just blow around the thing,
instead of tearing it apart. you could even shape it in a teardrop
shape in sections, for minimal wind resistance. A very deep hole, say
at least 2-300 ft underground, could be excavated for the bottom of
the shaft, and anchored once it is lowered.

This would be a gargantuan undertaking, something the nations of
the world might have to do in unison (fat chance there). And, some
have suggested that an elevator needs to go all the way up to
Geostationary orbit, 22,000 miles up. Perhaps, but a starting point
is LEO, around 200 miles up. The Elevator would have to move with the
Earth, perhaps using thrusters at times, so as to not be twisted or
bent by gravitational forces like lunar tidal pulls and such.
Someday we will buld something like this, but I'll probably be dust
long before then :-( Interesting stuff tho' .