History of Space Elevators Research Assignment Outline

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Space Elevators
* History of Space Elevators
* In ancient times the concept of space elevators had already been imagined
1 First mention of the same concept was in the book of Genesis where ancient civilization attempted to build the Tower of Babel
* Modern ideas and discovery of space elevators
1 More recently, the concept of space elevator proposed in 1895 by a space physicist known as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
2 Later in 1960, engineer Leningrad and Yuri Artsutanov make a similar proposal
3 American engineer, Jerome Pearson rediscovers the concept in 1975
* How was the concept publicized?
1 Arthur Clarke brings the idea to public attention in 1978 through his novel Fountains of Paradise
2 Charles Sheffield writes a novel centered on the concept almost at the same time as Clarke
* What were the challenges and how were they overcome
1 The idea of elevators was an impossibility among earlier scientists since the analysis of its structure revealed that no material existed that was strong enough to build it.
2 Carbon nanotubes discovered in 1991, clearing the pessimist surrounding the building of space elevator (Aravind 125)
* Potential applications of space elevators
1 There are a number of short term applications of space elevators and these include military
2 Telecommunication
3 Earth monitoring
* There are also long-term applications of space elevators especially in the emerging markets
1 Extend the application of space elevator to target institutions involved in activities such as space manufacturing, private tracking systems, medical therapy etc.
2 Solar power satellites are expected to be a major market