Space elevators: a necessary step towards the colonization of the Solar System. Is a space elevator possible?
Most of us have been on an elevator many times in our lives. You know that it’s a pretty useful mechanical device for getting people or things up and down a building in a decidedly efficient manner. But have you ever wondered what would happen if we could build an elevator that could go all the way up to space? First wondered by astronautical pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who in 1895, while contemplating the Eiffel Tower, imagined that his elevators could continue upward indefinitely.
Science fiction? Maybe… but before making hasty judgments it is always good to remember that in 1920, the New York Times openly mocked the early supporters of space flight, branding it as incredibly stupid. A judgement that the newspaper was forced to take back with an article of apology just on the eve of the Apollo 11 landing…
Attention then, that this of the space elevator is a technology that soon could really amaze us. The same Arthur Clarke, who with his novel “The Fountains of Paradise” contributed in 1979 to popularize the principle, to those who asked him for an opinion on “when” it would be possible to realize such a wonder, replied: “50 years after we stop laughing about it”.
#spaceelevator #feedyourcuriosity #spacetravel
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