Dreaming Of Heading To The Moon? Try A Lunar Elevator
Image via ID 128800742 © Sergey Gavrilichev | Dreamstime.com
While most of us can only watch on enviously as Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson take to space, there could be a little-known solution to getting to the moon without the exorbitant cost of rockets and spacecraft.
According to a 2019 study, a lunar elevator could help more people reach the moon in a cost-effective manner.
With a cable anchored onto the moon’s surface, it’ll stretch nearly 250,000 miles back down. While this won’t tether it directly to Earth, those visiting to the moon could access it from up in the Earth’s orbit.
Having it stop higher up could also prevent the elevator’s wires from getting crossed with all that’s floating in low-space orbit, such as the multitude of satellites launched each year.
Plus, the study reckoned solar-powered robotic shuttles could be attached to the cable, allowing a delivery conveyor-belt between the moon and Earth.
While a lunar elevator may sound like something out of an adventurer’s fairytale, the authors behind the study think it could be a reality for just a few billion dollars. Zephyr Penoyre and Emily Sandford, who are PhD candidates from the University of Columbia, said the elevator could pay for itself in just 53 trips.
This calculation was based on how much is currently being invested into space travel. For example, according to Science Focus, Jeff Bezos puts in nearly US$1 billion into Blue Origin each year. NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to bring American astronauts to the moon, could cost a whopping US$86 billion in total.
How would the lunar elevator work? The authors posited that the cable, no thicker than the width of a pencil, would be attached from the moon to high up in the Earth’s orbit.
It would weigh approximately 40 tonnes, similar to current rockets. Plus, stopping higher up in the orbit would mean the elevator won’t be affected as much by Earth’s large gravitational forces.
Additionally, the moon itself has no atmosphere, allowing the cable tethered there to be made from already-existing materials such as Kevlar. This will reduce costs as a brand-new, super-strong space material won’t be needed.
There’s no doubt the lunar elevator is still a grand dream at the moment, but with the amount of interest the space travel sector has garnered in recent years, it’s not impossible. Could we be riding up an elevator to the moon one day? Let’s wait and see.
[via Science Focus, cover image via ID 128800742 © Sergey Gavrilichev | Dreamstime.com]
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