Space has always been and remains one of the biggest mysteries that attract a man with its grandeur and inaccessibility. Many a childhood dream to go to outer space beyond Earth and explore life outside our planet. The Japanese company Obayashi took it upon myself to make this dream a reality, and incredibly expensive to make space travel more accessible to the masses. In 2050, the Housing Corporation plans to launch the world's first orbital elevator that will facilitate the movement of people in space, thus making it much cheaper.
Now the idea of launching an orbital elevator sounds pretty strange, but over time, but rather after some 30-40 years, the presence of this type of connection to the orbit and the cosmos as a whole will not be a surprise. If now such kind of travel can afford only the fabulously wealthy people, then half a century space tourism will become public entertainment.
At the moment, an ambitious project of world famous corporations is under development under the guidance of the most experienced professionals. It is expected that the car will travel at a speed of about 200 kilometers per hour, using a light rope of heavy-duty material. The cable will connect the Earth to a distant space station, which in addition to the research laboratory is also placed a hotel for tourists.
Stimulus to the creation of such a large and complex project appeared in connection with the development of materials that exceed the strength and reliability of steel hundreds of times and ensure the safe movement of people and goods, and different amounts of weight.
The construction company Obayashi constantly arranges various competitions and tenders aimed at finding optimal solutions for the construction of elevators. Thus competing with each other, most developers find creative and effective ways of selection and combination of materials and layout of the immediate structure of orbital connections.
The strength of the lift is provided by a centrifugal force. At the same time such a structure will be equipped with a lift, the movement of which is accelerated by the planet's rotation, which in the future will make it possible to send the goods far beyond the Earth's gravity. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the cable is required from the incredibly high tensile strength, combined with a low density material. For the manufacture of the cable will most likely use carbon nanotubes, which by previous estimates correspond to all of the above conditions.
The cost of the project in the initial phase is estimated at about 12 billion US dollars, but that's not the full amount.
If the company manages to make this ambitious idea into reality, in the near future, a huge number of people on the planet will be able to discover the space travel and see the world with different eyes.
