The concept of a space elevator was first published in 1895 by Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, he imagined a similar structure built from the ground up that reached into space.[1] For more than a century, the idea of a cable-based vertical-transportation (VT) vehicle that extends into geostationary orbit has been considered by scientists and science fiction authors. In late 2023, London-based architect Jordan William Hughes won the Jacques Roguerie International Competition’s “Architecture and Innovation for Space” Grand Prix Award for his conceptual space elevator design. Employed by Foster + Partners, Hughes worked on his winning drawings during his spare time. Also in the news, NASA astronauts have been testing a full-scale mock-up of an elevator concept that would lower crew members from a starship to the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission, planned for 2025. Yuval Valiano-Rips and Maya Glickman-Pariente presented a paper on the topic of space elevators at the 2022 International Elevator & Escalator Symposium in Barcelona, Spain, in which they called for the elevator industry to take the lead in developing these technologies. With a “new space era” dawning, the authors emphasise that VT minds must be ready to solve problems and meet future needs.[2]
References
[1] wikipedia.org/wiki/space_elevator
[2] elevatorworld.com/article/vertical-transportation-space-era
Get more of Elevator World. Sign up for our free e-newsletter.
