Raising The Space Elevator

2005-09-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Can we save the Earth and ourselves?

Since the beginning of recorded history, Man has attempted in
many ways to bring meaning to his life. For thousands of years
men thought conquest and the Control of others lives made them
great. Of course, the direction of Human History has been changed
many times by such methods; but not often to the improvement of
the lives of average people.
Today, we still seek meaning for our lives; not in conquest
as much, though many still seek control of others as their way of
saying “I have accomplished something”. The measure of a person’s
worth is not in conquests, in riches gathered, or in how many
people he controls. One’s worth is measured instead by the
improvement in people’s lives that his accomplishments bring.
Most of us affect the lives of only a few people as we live our
own lives; but, if their lives are improved in some small way,
then we too can have a feeling of accomplishment. Only a few of
us affect the lives of thousands or millions. But it is the
rarest of individuals that will be at the right place and moment
and do the right thing that will change the course of human
history.
As rare as these history changing moments are, there is
just such a possibility now, at this moment of history, if only
someone will do the right thing. The person or group that can
find a way for the average man to work, play, and travel in Outer
Space will change the course of Human Destiny in such fundamental
ways, that today, we can only begin to imagine. One change that
is sure to occur, is that all electrical power generation will
be moved into outer space where the sun always shines and huge
photo electric generating arrays will be possible. If access
to space is cheap and easy, then bringing asteroids from between
Mars and Jupiter back to orbit the moon would be simple. All
mining, manufacturing, and power generation could then be done
in space thus removing from the earth’s surface the worst sources
of pollution.
The big question is, “Who is going to open up space travel to
the masses?”. Will it be NASA? Not as long as they ignore
their own studies and continue to demand that heavy launch
vehicles (Rockets) be used to reach orbit. NASA spends 500
Million on every Shuttle launch; few countries can afford such
costs which still will allow only a few people in space at a
time. In fact, anyone planning to use rockets must necessarily
charge a minimum of 100s of thousands to carry a person into
space. It will take hundreds of years for mankind to have any
kind of real space presence, if we go this route. Fortunately,
there is another way; if we can believe NASA’s own study, then a
Space Elevator can be built for less than 20 Billion dollars in
10 to 20 years.
A few years ago, NASA commissioned a study to determine whether
the technology existed today to build an elevator anchored on
Earth and extending some 62,000 mi. into space. The short
answer is; yes, everything needed for the construction already
exists. The elevator would be made of a carbon nanotube
composite ribbon that is up to 100 times stronger than steel.
The exact composition of the ribbon and a method of producing
large quantities of carbon nanotubes were the only things that
would require research and development. The climbers that
would go up and down the elevator, their solar cell arrays
and the lasers to power the array is off the shelf technology.
Many scientists from various fields of study were involved in
an effort to find something that would be a “Show Stopper” so to
speak, for the project. But, they could not find any reason why
the elevator couldn’t be built. And the cost: 10-20 billion over
10-20 years is only 2 shuttle launches per year; not unreasonable.
After, the elevator is built, payloads could be placed in orbit or
sent off to any part of the Solar System for about $100 per pound
instead of $100,000 per pound that it takes for each Shuttle
launch.
If NASA is not willing to build the Elevator, then who will? There
are in fact, commercial ventures, that are trying to attract long
term venture capital to invest in building the Elevator. The
projected launch is for the year 2018, if all goes as planned.
But a 15-20 year investment time frame, before any return on
investment, has made it difficult to attract investors. If a
commercial venture should succeed, no one will be able to compete,
even if they charge five times what it actually cost to put a
satellite in orbit. If they should charge too much, in order to
get a quick return onsuch a long term investment; this too, could
greatly slow our pace in exploration of the Solar System. And,
of course, do we really want a company whose greatest concern is
their bottom line, to control Mankind’s advancement into
space?
So, what other choice do we have? Only one, that makes sense to me.
Create a Foundation for space exploration and colonization; the
JPL Space Foundation, until a better name can be decided upon.
A Foundation whose directives would be to:raise money, promote
space research, finance space missions and exploration, and even
finance manufacturing facilities needed to carry out a mission.
The Foundation would neither, be able to own nor operate any of
the facilities that it builds, thus keeping it from getting too
powerful itself. Of course, the Foundation would not replace NASA;
it would work with NASA to decide what projects and missions the
Foundation would sponsor. Of course, NASA already has the expertise
and management skills to oversee the building and operation of space
projects.
The biggest question of all is; how will the Foundation raise the
money it will need to carry out its directives? Money, is not
difficult to understand, you not only need some before you can spend
it, you also need it before you can make more. So, the Foundation
will need one or more very large benefactors just to get started.
Somewhere between 5 and 50 million would be enough for the
Foundation to start making its own money. The way that the Foundation
would make money is by sponsoring research and keeping control of any
patents granted. The patents could be sold or the Foundation could
finance a company to manufacture a product. Any company created by
the Foundation would not be owned by anyone; but, would be a kind of
mutual company. The company’s charter would direct that 70% of net
profits be donated to the Foundation, 5% would be paid in royalties to
those researchers who developed the patents, and 25% would be divided
into equal shares and distributed to everyone who works for the
company.
The Foundation’s first research grants would probably go to those
working to develop the carbon nanotube composite material to be
used in the Space Elevator itself. Because, carbon nanotubes are so
strong, such material would have a multitude of other uses; such as
flack jackets and bullet proof vests. With a little work, a light weight
flexible combat suit, with helmet and boots of the same material could
be constructed, that would protect our soldiers from almost any
weapon on the battlefield, except a direct hit from a mortar or cannon.
The construction industry would love to have materials to work with
that are thirty times stronger than steel. If produced cheaply enough,
carbon nanotube materials could become a 100 billion dollar industry
within 10 yrs. If the Foundation held patents on the processes for
producing such materials and financed the factories to manufacture
them, then it would have a continual stream of income to support
many different projects, even after the Elevator is built.
Now, who will come forward and endow the Foundation? I don’t
know, but the person or group that makes the Space Elevator happen
will be remembered as long as Man continues to write his history. If
fame is not what you seek, then maybe someone who would like to do
some very good work that makes live a little better for many millions of
people. The Elevator will be built; because nothing else cancompare in
simplicity of design, safety, and cost to build. Who will do the right thing?

Some Simple Math:

$100 X 100 people = $10,000 – Enough to give the Foundation legal standing.

$100 X 10,000 people = $1,000,000 – Start issuing research grants.

$100 X 1,000,000 people = $100,000,000 – Make real progress toward building
the space elevator.

John P. Lee
Chairman of the Board
JPL Space Foundation
P. O. Box 3573
Estes Park, CO. 80517

Space Elevator-Can it save the Planet and Us?

Raising The Space Elevator