It looks like a Canadian company is aiming high after it received its patent for a 20-kilometre-high space elevator, now talk about a really, really high speed lift that brings you to the heavens! I guess with such an elevator in tow, it would mean being really, really easy to make your way to space without having to strap yourself into the seat of a rocket or space shuttle.
Thoth Technology of Pembroke, Ontario, is currently working on a free standing space elevator that goes far higher than Jack’s beanstalk – we are talking about making a 20 kilometre trip up into space. This would enable astronauts to literally launch into space from a platform high above the Earth. Last month, Thoth picked up a U.S. patent for the technology.
Inventor Dr. Brendan Quine shared from the Algonquin Radio Observatory in Pembroke, Ontario, “From the top of the structure you would be able to launch using a single stage space plane directly into low Earth orbit, and the return to the top of the structure and you wouldn’t need any expendable rockets that would come off during the flight. The whole thing would be like a passenger jet.”
As for how the structure will be able to stand freely, a little bit of pixie dust is required. Just kidding – the entire structure will be pneumatically pressurized as well as guided over its base in order to be able to do so.
Filed in . Read more about Patent and Science. Source: theglobeandmail