Edwards Bradley C
Eureka Scientific, Seattle, WA, USA.
Gravit Space Biol Bull. 2003 Jun;16(2):101-5.
The objective has been to develop a viable scenario for the construction, deployment and operation of a space elevator using current or near future technology. This effort has been primarily a paper study with several experimental tests of specific systems. Computer simulations, engineering designs, literature studies and inclusion of existing programs have been utilized to produce a design for the first space elevator. The results from this effort illustrate a viable design using current and near-term technology for the construction of the first space elevator. The timeline for possible construction is within the coming decades and estimated costs are less than $10 B. The initial elevator would have a 5 ton/day capacity and operating costs near $100/lb for payloads going to any Earth orbit or traveling to the Moon, Mars, Venus or the asteroids. An operational space elevator would allow for larger and much longer-term biological space studies at selectable gravity levels. The high-capacity and low operational cost of this system would also allow for inexpensive searches for life throughout our solar system and the first tests of environmental engineering. This work is supported by a grant from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC).
目标是利用当前或近期技术，为太空电梯的建造、部署和运行制定一个可行方案。这项工作主要是一项理论研究，并对特定系统进行了几次实验测试。通过计算机模拟、工程设计、文献研究以及纳入现有程序，得出了首个太空电梯的设计方案。这项工作的成果展示了一种利用当前和近期技术建造首个太空电梯的可行设计。可能的建造时间线在未来几十年内，预计成本不到100亿美元。初始电梯的运载能力为每天5吨，将载荷送往任何地球轨道或前往月球、火星、金星或小行星的运行成本接近每磅100美元。一个可运行的太空电梯将能够在可选择的重力水平下进行规模更大、时间更长的生物太空研究。该系统的高运载能力和低运行成本还将使在整个太阳系进行廉价的生命搜索以及首次环境工程测试成为可能。这项工作得到了美国国家航空航天局高级概念研究所（NIAC）的资助。
