Daily Archives: November 2, 2005

The Solar Tower and the Space Elevator

Recently I’ve been reading up on Australia’s long term plan to erect a Solar Tower. Click here to see the concept video [scroll down to the "View an Artist Rendition of the Solar Tower" link].

OzTowerCompare-web.jpgThe Solar Tower website claims that this structure will be the tallest building in the world. You can tell by the picture that it won’t be a close contest. If, that is, this Solar Tower is completed before a Space Elevator.

That thought led me to this: why couldn’t the Solar Tower serve as the base of an Austrialian Space Elevator?

The planned site for this solar tower is in the remote outback of Buronga in the Wentworth Shire of New South Wales, Australia. This sort of remoteness is also a key requirement for the Space Elevator. You want it far away from normal flight paths to avoid accidental collisions. But remoteness will also help guard against intentional 9/11-style terrorist attacks.

Both the Space Elevator and the Solar Tower would work best near the equator. The Solar Tower could provide the electricity needed to power the Space Elevator laser. It could power an entire space port. There’s even the possibility of using the Solar Tower’s rising hot air directly to cut the cost of part of the lift through a hot air balloon principle, or by aiding a stirling engine.

Both the Solar Tower and the Space Elevator are big projects that will benefit the private sector but will require governmental effort. Perhaps some of the engineering expertise needed for one project could benefit the other.

Synergy all around.

We're Learning

Glenn Reynolds, in a new TCS column, with more thoughts in response to Peggy Noonan’s ennui:

But while the members and hangers-on of yesterday’s power structures are mulling their reduced prospects, ordinary people seem to be doing pretty well, as the economy continues to boom, small businesses to form, and new kinds of enterprises take off. We certainly don’t view government with the same awe we felt before Watergate broke, or journalism with the same respect it had before Dan Rather struck, but all available evidence suggests that it was our earlier attitudes that were misinformed.

Indeed.

We’re Learning

Glenn Reynolds, in a new TCS column, with more thoughts in response to Peggy Noonan’s ennui:

But while the members and hangers-on of yesterday’s power structures are mulling their reduced prospects, ordinary people seem to be doing pretty well, as the economy continues to boom, small businesses to form, and new kinds of enterprises take off. We certainly don’t view government with the same awe we felt before Watergate broke, or journalism with the same respect it had before Dan Rather struck, but all available evidence suggests that it was our earlier attitudes that were misinformed.

Indeed.