Comments on: The Solar Tower and the Space Elevator

By: DonRodrigo

DonRodrigo — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 15:43:21 +0000

The tower itself could be used as a “half-stage” for a more conventional launch system. This would require dedicating a tower as a launcher rather than part of an energy-generating complex.

A vertical rocket sled travelling at an accelleration rate of 6 Gs would provide about a 350-400 mph boost to a launch vehicle, saving about 15% to the weight of the vehicle that actually flies, or increasing it’s payload by a significant margin.

By: ivankirigin

ivankirigin — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 18:26:28 +0000

I see little _reason_ to build a space elevator on top of this kind of tower.

Firstly, you want it to be remote. I mean nothing around for a thousand miles. Also, you want stable weather. I’m not sure you’re going to get that in a desert.

You would want to build a tower as a base of the elevator, and maybe some construction tech which doesn’t exist yet for either tower application still needs to be found.

Also, I think these solar tower folks want to build lots of em. That would be cool.

By: legion

legion — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:44:16 +0000

I suspect that locating a space elevator earth station in Australia would cause too much instability in the system. The base station would have to be closer to the equator than you can find within the Australian continent. From the equator to GEO and beyond. Nobody knows how much perturbation such a system would tolerate. Don’t design problems into a potentially chaotic system.

By: Stephen Gordon

Stephen Gordon — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:01:04 +0000

Phil:

The Solar Tower collects solar energy in a green house that stretches out for many square miles around the tower. Energy is harvested as the heat shoots up the chimney.

A Space Elevator would cast a looong shadow, but since it’s only 3 feet wide and paper thin, I don’t think it would noticeably affect the operation of the Solar Tower.

By: Phil Bowermaster

Phil Bowermaster — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 15:48:05 +0000

The Solar Tower looks like an enormous version of the Coit Tower in San Francisco, also kind of like a lighthouse.

Would the cables and other infrastructure for the space elevator block some of the sunlight, or do you think that would not be much of an issue?