Space Elevator
Pro and Cons
What is the Space Elevator
• It’s an elevator that goes into space. (I know, it
was tricky)
• Most of the rocket fuel is used to get out of
the atmosphere. The fuel is heavy and
expensive.
• If you can launch into space PAST the
atmosphere it would be cheaper and safer.
What does it look like?
Space elevator
• There’s lots of possible problems with the
Space elevator.
• There’s lots of pros and cons.
• Let’s look at the pro’s first
Space Exploration
• Since the space elevator cuts down on the cost of rocket fuel, more
of the budget for space crafts can be used to make the crafts go
further and faster.
• Currently the Voyager I, which was launched in the late 70's
(precisely in September 1977) is the farthest man made spacecraft
from the Earth.
As of now (October 2010), Voyager 1 is at a distance of over 17
billion kilometers from the Sun. Also, it is more than 17 billion
kilometers away from Earth.
Read more:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_furthest_spacecraft_from
_Earth#ixzz16WHYyfYJ
Space Tourism
• http://www.virgingalactic.com/
• The spacecraft will travel 360,000 feet (109.73 km/68.18 miles)
high. This goes beyond the internationally defined boundary
between Earth and space of 100 km. Spaceflights will last 2.5 hours,
carry 6 passengers, and reach a speed of Mach 3. SpaceShipTwo will
not require a space shuttle-like heat shield for atmospheric reentry
as it will not experience the extreme aerodynamic heating
experienced during reentry at orbital velocities (approximately
Mach 22.5 at a typical shuttle altitude of 300 km, or 185 miles).[26]
The glider will employ a "feathering" technique to manage drag
during the unpowered descent and landing. SpaceShipTwo will use
a single hybrid rocket motor to launch from mid-air after detaching
from a mother ship at 50,000 feet, instead of NASA's space shuttle's
ground-based launch.
Evolving through exploration
• Humanity grows and evolves through exploration.
• There is a deep need for humans to be curious
and explore.
• Think about the first time you went some place
new.
• Think about how humanity has advanced through
exploration
• Discovering new technology
• Discovering new food sources, energy sources,
new places to live.
Launching satellites
• Another important factor with satellites is the
cost of the launch. According to this report, a
satellite launch can cost anywhere between
$50 million and $400 million. A shuttle
mission pushes toward half a billion dollars (a
shuttle mission could easily carry several
satellites into orbit). You can see that building
a satellite, getting it into orbit and then
maintaining it from the ground control facility
is a major financial endeavor!
Failed Launches- Safety
• http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?
parent=satellite.htm&url=http://www.space.c
om/news/spacehistory/YIR_spacebiz_991228.
html
Fast and cheap way to get into space
• This can help provide astronauts support and
supplies quickly.
• It means we could have LONGER missions in
space.
New Tech.
• Technology used to create the elevator could
be used in other industries.
• The cables would be made out of
nanotechnology.
• Think about other
applications for super strong
Tubing.
CONS
• Yep there’s a LOT of down sides to this thing
too.
COST
• In 2007, Elevator:2010 held the 2007 Space Elevator
games, which featured US$500,000 awards for each of
the two competitions, (US$1,000,000 total) as well as
an additional US$4,000,000 to be awarded over the
next five years for space elevator related
technologies.[27] No teams won the competition, but a
team from MIT entered the first 2-gram (0.07 oz), 100%
carbon nanotube entry into the competition.[28] Japan
held an international conference in November 2008 to
draw up a timetable for building the elevator.[29]
COST
• The cost doesn’t include creating the cables or
the climbers, or the land it would need to go
on.
• IT doesn’t include insurance.
• It doesn’t include infrastructure on the land.
• It doesn’t include the cost to build it.
Unnecessary
• Earth has plenty of problems why not fix them
here before we go off into space.
• Cancer, poverty, illiteracy, water related
illness, war, deforestation, pollution, human
rights issues, garbage patch
Garbage patch
Cost of life
• The cable could snap and whip around the
globe, killing people and effecting the weather
as well.
Terrorism
• The space elevator would be a potential
location for a terrorist attack.
Logic
• It’s a rope to the sky…. Let’s stop and think
about this. Gee, what could possibly go
wrong.
Pick a side
• Are you for the space elevator or against it.
• Use the logic and facts from this PowerPoint
and research on your own time, or your own
logic, to support your argument.
• Use what you know from Science class to help
you.
• You must fill out a graphic organizer before
writing your paper.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASpace_el
evator_economics
• http://www.googobits.com/articles/2527-thespace-elevator-a-highway-to-heaven.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/34
01/02-why.html
• http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-spaceelevator.html