[h=1]Japanese construction giant Obayashi announces plans to have a space elevator up and running by 2050[/h] By North Asia correspondent Matthew Carney
Updated about 5 hours agoMon 22 Sep 2014
Photo: The space elevator will transport people and cargo at a fraction of the cost of Earth-based rockets. (Obayashi Corporation)
Once the realm of science fiction, a Japanese company has announced they will have a space elevator up and running by the year 2050.
If successful it would revolutionise space travel and potentially transform the global economy.
The Japanese construction giant Obayashi says they will build a space elevator that will reach 96,000 kilometres into space.
Robotic cars powered by magnetic linear motors will carry people and cargo to a newly-built space station, at a fraction of the cost of rockets. It will take seven days to get there.
The company said the fantasy can now become a reality because of the development of carbon nanotechnology.
"The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable so it's possible," Mr Yoji Ishikawa, a research and development manager at Obayashi, said.
"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."
Universities all over Japan have been working on the problems and every year they hold competitions to share and learn from each other.
A team at Kanagawa University has been working on robotic cars or climbers.
Professor Tadashi Egami said tension on the cable will vary depending on height and gravity.
"We're studying what mechanisms are needed in order to ascend at differing altitudes and the best brake system," Mr Egami says.
Japanese construction giant Obayashi announces plans to have a space elevator up and running by 2050 - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Updated about 5 hours agoMon 22 Sep 2014
Photo: The space elevator will transport people and cargo at a fraction of the cost of Earth-based rockets. (Obayashi Corporation)
Once the realm of science fiction, a Japanese company has announced they will have a space elevator up and running by the year 2050.
If successful it would revolutionise space travel and potentially transform the global economy.
The Japanese construction giant Obayashi says they will build a space elevator that will reach 96,000 kilometres into space.
Robotic cars powered by magnetic linear motors will carry people and cargo to a newly-built space station, at a fraction of the cost of rockets. It will take seven days to get there.
The company said the fantasy can now become a reality because of the development of carbon nanotechnology.
"The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable so it's possible," Mr Yoji Ishikawa, a research and development manager at Obayashi, said.
"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."
Universities all over Japan have been working on the problems and every year they hold competitions to share and learn from each other.
A team at Kanagawa University has been working on robotic cars or climbers.
Professor Tadashi Egami said tension on the cable will vary depending on height and gravity.
"We're studying what mechanisms are needed in order to ascend at differing altitudes and the best brake system," Mr Egami says.
Japanese construction giant Obayashi announces plans to have a space elevator up and running by 2050 - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
