Building an Elevator to Space — Closer to Reality Than You May Assume!

When I first heard that there was the possibility that an elevator would be built that reached all the way to space, I thought that it had to be one of those odd ideas that gets tossed around, but which could never actually happen. It may still never happen, but the idea has now progressed so far, that talks have got to the point of figuring out how it would be possible to place insurance on the completed project. According to aviation attorney Alisa Brodkowitz through KIROtv.com; “How do we create a regime so we know the risks, and therefore allow insurance to be applied to this. In order to create this, we really need to be able to obtain insurance for it.”

The talks have been taking place in Redmond, Washington, right inside of Microsoft Headquarters, to try and figure out not only the feasibility of such a grand endeavor, but whether the expense of possible insurance could or would be possible. The report released by KIRO, is that many experts of the field had gathered to talk about the possibilities, and that the key to it would be constructing a 60,000 mile carbon fiber ribbon that could send an elevator all the way to space. The thought process behind this, has been that it would be cheaper to construct something like this than to continually use the fuel and rockets necessary to get shuttles up into space.

It still sounds like something out of this world to a novice like myself, that doesn’t fully comprehend all of the details involved, but I completely understand the thought process that we need to find alternative means of making our way into space. One thing that I really took note of, was that Liftport, a company located in Bremerton Washington, suggests that this system could actually start up within 25 years. Can you imagine that? That if the finances were squared away, that we could have an elevator that would take us up into space? The thought simply boggles the mind, and though a lot of planning is still necessary to make anything like this work properly, it is amazing to think that it could be in our near future. As the article best describes it, an “Elevator to space (is) more than just an idea.”

*Referenced Article on KIROtv.com: http://www.kirotv.com/technology/16923195/detail.html