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Inflatable Tower Could Climb To the Edge of Space

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the out-of-breath dept.

MonkeyClicker writes with mention of a proposal that could see an inflatable tower helping to carry people to the edge of space without the need for rocket propulsion. This would function in place of previous space elevator designs which featured a large cable and could be completed much faster, if proponents of the project are to be believed. "To stay upright and withstand winds, full-scale structures would require gyroscopes and active stabilization systems in each module. The team modeled a 15-kilometer tower made up of 100 modules, each one 150 meters tall and 230 meters in diameter, built from inflatable tubes 2 meters across. Quine estimates it would weigh about 800,000 tonnes when pressurized — around twice the weight of the world's largest supertanker."

4 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Bad article. by Jartan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This could have some use for escaping earth's gravity. Among all the theorized technologies one of the most promising has always been just launching stuff into space via rail gun style. If you have a long tube with nothing but vacuum inside it you can drastically increase the efficiency of such a device. The problem is the end of the device has to exit into something near vacuum or it would be like slamming into a solid wall made of atmosphere.

    If a tower like this could be built such that it contained a vacuum corridor inside it then we could perhaps finally pursue this idea with already existing technologies.

  2. Re:Where will all the helium come from? by Dice · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Jupiter would probably be easier. 8-12% Helium by volume in the upper atmosphere, and the rest is Hydrogen.

  3. Prior Art by realeyes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Buckminster Fuller (my hero ;-) already came up with this, altho' he intended to use concrete. Basically, if the structure is large enough, making the inside of the structure a few degrees warmer than the outside air will cause it to float. Bucky described a sphere about 1 mile in diameter to be airborne, and somewhat smaller cones to be sea cities. Later . . . Jim

  4. Dreamspace by quenda · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This didn't go well the last time. Newspaper headline:

    NIGHTMARE ON DREAMSPACE: MUMS, DADS, KIDS PLUNGE TO EARTH

    HORRIFIED witnesses told last night how they watched helplessly as parents and children plummeted to the ground after a huge bouncy castle was sent rocketing 120ft into the air.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2006/07/24/killed-by-the-bouncy-castle-115875-17435718/

    http://www.google.com.au/search?q=dreamspace+inflatable