In 2015, an exclusive patent
for the creation of an elevator to space received a Canadian company Thoth
Technology Inc.. The tower ThothX Tower will be 20
kilometers - is almost 25 times higher than the tallest building in the world,
the skyscraper "Burj Khalifa" in the United Arab Emirates. The upper
area of the tower will host the start and refueling of spacecraft; they would not
require energy-intensive run vertically, which will save up to 30% of the fuel.
Some skepticism currently there is no material that can withstand such a design
height. However, experts Thoth Technology Inc., will present its project and
received a patent, confident of success. It is known that some of the towers
will be inflatable and pneumatic, and to reduce the impact of wind power
structure will be equipped with a flywheel. It also allows ThothX Tower
independently produce electricity.
Project ThothX Tower is
conceptually different from other "space elevator," which humanity is
considering options for the past decades. Expressed Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in
1895, the idea was based on the use of rope, stretched from the surface of the
Earth (or any other planet) to the orbital station located in geostationary
orbit. One of the unsolved problems still is the material for the cable: it
must have a very high ratio of tensile strength to specific gravity. And in the
United States since 2005, annual contest Space Elevator Games, organized by the
Spaceward Foundation with support from NASA. In this competition there are two
nominations: "The best rope" and "the best robot (lift)."
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