One Japanese Company Wants to Build an Elevator into Space
This strikes us as odd, and it will probably mystify you as well, but we think Obayashi Corporation, one of the biggest construction companies in Japan, is trolling the United States and NASA. We know, it's weird. And no, we haven't been drinking. Yet. Hear us out. The company just announced that it's planning on building an elevator into space. Not only that, but the space elevator will carry space tourists and astronauts back and forth from a space station at a fraction of the cost of doing so with spaceships. See what we mean?
As crazy as it sounds, the "space elevator" has been a theoretical concept that's been around for a while and the Obayashi Corporation could maybe pull this off. It is one of the five biggest construction companies in Japan, boasting a revenue of more than $15 billion. Obayashi is responsible for the Kyoto station, which is Japan's second biggest transportation hub and among the biggest buildings in the entire country. When Obayashi does things, it does them big.
If they pull it off, the elevator will reach about 590,000 miles into space. Two large cars will transport people to the new space station the Japanese plan to build. The trip, according to the experts, should take about seven days each way.
There are some obstacles, of course, to building such a crazy thing. For one, the amount of fuel Obayashi team would need will be extreme. It will be difficult to exit the Earth's atmosphere without a lot of firepower. The other issue is keeping the cars connected throughout the journey. The team building the elevator are hoping that by 2050, the right technology will exist to construct the cables that they need to haul the cargo so far into space. Yoji Ishikawa, one of Obayashi's lead scientists, is banking on carbon nanotechnology to bind the cables together.
"The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable so it's possible," Ishikawa told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Right now we can't make the cable long enough. We can only make 3-centimetre-long nanotubes but we need much more. We think by 2050 we'll be able to do it."
Another expert working on the elevator, Tadashi Egami, said that braking is presenting some issues as well. "We're studying what mechanisms are needed in order to ascend at differing altitudes and the best brake system," he told the International Business Times.
Sure! Sure you will. Because if you aren't, that means this is all just a way of begging NASA and the rest of us to make fun of this insane idea. But we're not going to do it! You can't lure us into your zany space elevator trap, Obayashi. We will be watching this closely though. Because dammit, this is freaking weird.
[Image via Flickr - Steve Snodgrass]
