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Putting spacecraft into orbit is extremely expensive and difficult, and scientists are constantly coming back to the idea of a space elevator capable of more easily lifting people and equipment from the Earth's atmosphere. Today, researchers have changed the concept that, theoretically at least, is achievable with current technology.
Rather than building a space elevator from Earth, build a "space line" from the moon, say astrophysicists Zephyr Penoyre of the University of Cambridge in the UK and Emily Sandford of Columbia University At New York.
Based on their calculations, the researchers said that such a construction was technically and economically feasible with the tools and materials we have today – which can not be said for the concept space elevators.
The advantage of a space line above a space elevator lies in the fact that it would gravitate around the Earth only once a month – as it would be attached to the moon, and not to the Earth – which would reduce the stresses resulting from centrifugal forces.
In fact, it would not touch our planet, but would swing into a geostationary orbit, some 42,164 kilometers above the surface, ready to carry anything needed in remote areas of space.
"By extending a line, anchored to the moon, deep within the earth's gravity well, we can build a stable, traversable cable that allows free movement from the Earth's vicinity to the moon's surface." write Penoyre and Sandford in their document.
"This would reduce the fuel needed to reach the moon's surface to one-third of the current value."
Extremely strong materials we already have, including the Zylon carbon polymer, would work in this scenario.
By reaching what is called the Lagrange Point – where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon are about to balance – researchers believe that the stability needed for operations can be achieved.
(Penoyre & Sandford, arXiv.org, 2019)
There would be some kind of "base camp" here, the researchers say:
"Such a base camp would allow the construction and maintenance of a new generation of space experiments: imaginable telescopes, particle accelerators, gravitational wave detectors, vivariums, energy production and launch points for missions in the rest of the solar system. "
The counterweight to a base camp would also help keep the long cable anchored and stable – it will have to travel more than 300,000 kilometers (186,411 miles), after all.
As a bonus, the researchers suggest that space objects (such as meteors) are less likely to be hit, and that the cable could be made to withstand small impacts.
The idea of a lunar lunar space is not new, but this latest study shows that it is now attainable in terms of cost and practicality. It should be kept in mind that this is however only a proof of concept and that the work has not yet appeared in a peer reviewed journal. It has been downloaded to gather industry feedback on the pre-print server arXiv.org.
In other words, work on a demarcation line will not start soon, unfortunately. But that could offer us a more viable alternative for low-cost space exploration than the space elevator – and at least the calculations in hand.
"We calculated the stress and stresses on the spatial line and showed that with modern materials, it could be built within the fundamental limits of materials," the researchers concluded.
The search is available on the pre-print server arXiv.org.
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