Japanese construction company plans to have a space elevator by 2050

[Buster's Uncle]

Japanese construction company plans to have a space elevator by 2050
The Week
Meghan DeMaria     11:20am ET



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Japanese construction giant Obayashi has announced its plans to have a working space elevator by 2050.

The elevator could reach nearly 60,000 miles into space, which could start a revolution for space travel. Its robotic cars would transport passengers to a space station for significantly less than the cost of rockets, and the elevator could eventually eliminate rockets entirely. While space shuttles cost roughly $22,000 per kilogram of space cargo, the elevator would average just $200 per kilogram.

The journey would take seven days, and Obayashi says the cars will be able to carry as many as 30 people. In addition to the cost benefits, the space elevator could help store nuclear waste and deliver solar power.

"The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable, so it's possible," Yoji Ishikawa, a research and development manager at Obayashi, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation."Right now we can't make the cable long enough... we think by 2030, we'll be able to do it." Ishikawa also noted that "international cooperation" is necessary to complete the elevator. "I don't think one company can make it," he said.


http://theweek.com/article/index/268550/speedreads-japanese-construction-company-plans-to-have-a-space-elevator-by-2050

[Buster's Uncle]

Japanese company plans to have working space elevator by 2050
Engadget
by Edgar Alvarez | @abcdedgar | 49ms ago






Who does want to go to space? No less, in an elevator. While NASA's been working hard for years trying to find the necessary tools to do just that, other firms are doing the same across different parts of the world. Japanese construction company Obayashi, for instance, is one of those, and today it revealed its plans to have a fully functional space elevator by the year 2050. As Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports, Obayashi says it is working to build a space elevator that can reach 96,000 kilometers (roughly 60,000 miles) into space, capable of transporting people and cargo at a much lower cost than the rockets traditionally launched from Earth. The trip on Obayashi's space elevator is said to take a total of seven days one-way, with the destination being a space station that would be built specifically for this scenario.

Obayashi knows the road to build a space elevator won't be easy, particularly because some of the materials required aren't available in this day and age. That said, the Japan-based outfit believes that things like the current development carbon nanotechnology will be of huge help in turning the project into reality. According to Obayashi's Research and Development Manager, Yoji Ishikawa, "The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable so it's possible." "Right now we can't make the cable long enough. We can only make 3-centimetre-long nanotubes but we need much more... we think by 2030 we'll be able to do it," he told ABC.


http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/obayashi-space-elevator-2050/?ncid=rss_truncated