Chinese scientists say they have the key to building a space elevator. A what?

<p class = "web-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Chinese scientists have developed a fiber nanotubes carbon The Tsinghua University research team has patented the technology and published part of its research in the journal Nature Nanotechnology Chinese scientists have developed a carbon nanotube fiber powerful enough to be used in the construction of a space elevator. Tsinghua University has patented technology and published some of its research in the newspaper Nature Nanotechnology earlier this year.

They said fiber would be "in great demand in many high-end areas such as sports equipment, ballistic armor, aeronautics, astronautics and even space lifts". But is an elevator that could travel from Earth to space really possible, or is it simply science fiction?

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<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" Although generations of research have made rocket the most reliable form of propulsion ever invented … space vehicles are still totally ineffective, "wrote science fiction author Sir Arthur C Clarke in The fountains of paradise in 1979. "data-reactid =" 34 ">" Although several generations of research have made the rocket the most reliable form of propulsion ever invented, space vehicles are still totally ineffective, "wrote Sir Arthur Clarke, author of science fiction The fountains of paradise in 1979.

The novel was the first popular account of an idea described by the Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895: the space elevator, a planet-to-space transport system like the lifts we use every day, but 300,000 times higher.

The attraction of a space elevator comes down to the possibility of finding a much cheaper way to travel in space. Launching a satellite for a single trip costs more than 160 million US dollars, but it is estimated that a space lift could reduce it to less than 2 million US dollars per person per trip.

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The basic concept of a space elevator involves a cable anchored to the surface of the Earth and connected to a counterweight sent into space. If the cable is long enough – 36,000 km (three times the diameter of the Earth) – it will be stretched and straightened by the force of gravity and the centrifugal force.

The theory is that a vehicle could then travel along the cable, propelled by the rotational energy of the Earth. This would revolutionize space travel, but designing and finding a material that is solid enough to make this idea a reality is extremely difficult.

Japan launched two satellites in September as part of the first experiment of studying lifts movements in the space, involving a mini-lift moving along a cable from One satellite to the other. He has not yet reported the results. China also conducted space link tests but did not reveal the details.

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Rocket scientist Tsiolkovsky introduced the concept for the first time in 1895, imagining a celestial castle in space attached to the Earth by a massive tower. Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov took this experience a step further by developing a modern version of a space elevator inspired by Tsiolkovsky's model.

American engineer and scientist Jerome Pearson published the first technical article on the concept in 1975, which attracted the attention of the scientific community. Four years later, sci-fi writer Clarke popularized this idea by inspiring Pearson's drawing in his novel on the space elevator.

Scientists have since tried to refine the design and develop new materials to bring the concept closer to reality.

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<h4 class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "What makes the construction of a space elevator so difficult?"data-reactid =" 57 ">What makes the construction of a space elevator so difficult?

The three biggest challenges are buckling, dynamic stability and resistance. Scientists believe they can control the buckling and dynamic stability using a satellite placed in a geostationary orbit at the right altitude, to prevent the cable from being driven by Earth's gravity or do not go away.

The story continues