Space ladder moves closer to reality

Robert Heinlein popularized the idea of a space ladder in his 1978 novel The Fountains of Paradise. The concept is fascinating — through the use of very high-tech carbon nanotube technology, create a thin yet super-strong ribbon structure that is connected at one end to the earth, and the other end in geosynchronous orbit. Specially constructed elevators traverse the “ladder”, providing a low-cost system for transporting materials and people between earth and space.

Scientists and entrepreneurs are actively working to bring the concept to fruition. In January, an important milestone was achieved:

A slim cable for a space elevator has been built stretching a mile into the sky, enabling robots to scrabble some way up and down the line.

LiftPort Group, a private US company on a quest to build a space elevator by April 2018, stretched the strong carbon ribbon 1 mile (1.6 km) into the sky from the Arizona desert outside Phoenix in January tests, it announced on Monday.

The company’s lofty objective will sound familiar to followers of NASA’s Centennial Challenges programme. The desired outcome is a 62,000-mile (99,779 km) tether that robotic lifters – powered by laser beams from Earth – can climb, ferrying cargo, satellites and eventually people into space.

The recent test followed a September 2005 demonstration in which LiftPort’s robots climbed 300 metres of ribbon tethered to the Earth and pulled taut by a large balloon. This time around, the company tested an improved cable pulled aloft by three balloons.

Exciting stuff.

More information about the LiftPort Group is available on their Web site. Lots of general info is available on the Space Elevator Blog.