Releasing Earth Space Elevator Climbers into Geostationary Orbit
- Paper number
IAC-05-D4.2.05
- Author
Mr. Paul Nelson, United States
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The concept of an Earth Space Elevator is that there would be a 62,000 Mile long Carbon Nanotube Composite cable from a mobile ocean-going anchor off of the coast of Ecuador connected to a counterweight that is in a constant geosynchronous orbit in space. Robotic climbers would be used to get up and down the cable. These climbers would be able to grip the cable and therefore have the ability to go up and down the cable whenever necessary. Back on earth, near the anchor, approximately one to two lasers will be up power to the climbers. The beams would be received in the climber's photovoltaic arrays and used for power. The climbers will be able to haul up cargo when it goes to space. One of the stated benefits of the Space Elevator concept is that satellites could be released from the climbers at different heights and fall into a geosynchronous orbit, which would save a lot of money, if one is trying to place satellites in geosynchronous orbits for a purpose. This is a very big issue today. It can not be done cheaply or sufficiently. The problem is that if the satellites are not released at the right heights they could fall to the Earth’s surface. That is why a certain amount of rocket fuel must be used to make sure each satellite will move into a geosynchronous orbit. This paper will investigate what would be required at different heights in order to solve this problem.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-D4.2.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.