Today's scientific conference was dedicated to this
An international team of experts from the UK, Canada, Norway, the United States and Japan are discussing the concept of building a space elevator at a scientific conference in Seattle today. Such a device would make it possible to deliver cargo from Earth to an orbital station without the use of rockets.
The station required to use the space elevator will have to be in geosynchronous orbit, that is, constantly "hang" over one point, making a revolution around the Earth in the same time during which the planet itself rotates around its axis. In this case, the space elevator itself will have to be a strong cable capable of withstanding the weight of the cargo delivered into orbit.
During the conference, many details of the implementation of the project are discussed, including the parameters that the space station should have, the tension and other parameters of the cable, as well as the principles by which the connection between the various elements of the space elevator and the point over which it should be created could be carried out … Based on the results of the study, it is planned to carry out mathematical modeling of the project in the future.
Experts suggest that an elevator for the transfer of goods between the Earth and the orbit should be located near the equator, and for this an area should be chosen, characterized by both suitable weather conditions and the most stable political situation.
Experts admit that in the very near future, the implementation of the space elevator project should not be expected, since today there simply are no sufficiently strong materials to ensure its operation in terrestrial conditions (although it was hypothesized to build a space elevator on the Moon or Mars, where the gravity is would be real even now). However, the conference participants hope that in half a century, heavy-duty materials will already be developed, and technical issues related to the construction of a space elevator will be resolved.
Dmitry Erusalimsky