{"id":11812,"date":"2018-11-19T13:17:11","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T18:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=11812"},"modified":"2018-11-19T13:17:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T18:17:11","slug":"making-space-elevators-a-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Space Elevators a Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Space<\/a>\n

For nearly 150 years, researchers have contemplated the idea of a space elevator\u2014an alternate way to shuttle people and goods to space that wouldn\u2019t involve a shuttle at all. Rather than using energy-expensive rockets for this task, a space elevator would move items up and down a strong cable with one end anchored on Earth, and the other balanced by a counterweight in space, moving in a geosynchronous orbit.<\/p>\n

The main sticking point to bringing this futuristic concept to fruition is the cable itself, explains Sean Sun<\/a>, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. No material yet exists that\u2019s strong enough to withstand the tension caused by the pull of the counterweight, the force of the Earth rotating, and the gravitational weight of the cable itself without using so much of the material that it becomes unrealistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mathematically possible to use steel,\u201d Sun explains. \u201cBut the design parameters would require so much steel that there\u2019s not enough material in the entire universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Sun and graduate student Dan Popescu are taking a different tack, applying a bioengineering spin to this problem.<\/p>\n

While most engineered structures operate at a fraction of their material\u2019s tensile strength\u2014how far they can be pulled without breaking\u2014most biological structures, such as tendons, operate near their max. \u00a0That\u2019s because biological structures are constantly breaking themselves down and rebuilding, which allows for continual repair.<\/p>\n

Space elevators won\u2019t require such a strong cable if the cable also continually renews itself, Sun and Popescu reason. This feat could be achieved, they suggest, by developing a cable that\u2019s constantly serviced by autonomous robots. Rather than waiting for breaks in the cable, these robots can dynamically break down and rebuild the cable to make sure it\u2019s always in good working order. This cable would be segmented so that if a break occurred, it wouldn\u2019t extend beyond a small site, note the researchers, who recently reported their solution on the pre-print website arXiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers could test this concept on Earth by using it to design other megastructures, such as suspension bridges, with weaker but dynamic materials. \u201cIf these pan out and prove to be economically feasible,\u201d Sun says, \u201ca space elevator would be a natural next step.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For nearly 150 years, researchers have contemplated the idea of a space elevator\u2014an alternate way to shuttle people and goods to space that wouldn\u2019t involve a shuttle at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1148,2083,3615,3620,3625,3630,3635,3640],"class_list":["post-11812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","tag-robotics","tag-mechanical-engineering","tag-sean-sun","tag-dan-popescu","tag-space-elevator","tag-bioengineering","tag-autonomous-robots","tag-megastructures","issue-winter-2019"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaking Space Elevators a Reality - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making Space Elevators a Reality - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For nearly 150 years, researchers have contemplated the idea of a space elevator\u2014an alternate way to shuttle people and goods to space that wouldn\u2019t involve a shuttle at all.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-19T18:17:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"Making Space Elevators a Reality\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-19T18:17:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Robotics\",\"Mechanical Engineering\",\"Sean Sun\",\"Dan Popescu\",\"Space Elevator\",\"Bioengineering\",\"Autonomous Robots\",\"Megastructures\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/\",\"name\":\"Making Space Elevators a Reality - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-19T18:17:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Space elevator\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Making Space Elevators a Reality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\",\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abby Lattes\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Making Space Elevators a Reality - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Making Space Elevators a Reality - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"For nearly 150 years, researchers have contemplated the idea of a space elevator\u2014an alternate way to shuttle people and goods to space that wouldn\u2019t involve a shuttle at all.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2018-11-19T18:17:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abby Lattes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abby Lattes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/"},"author":{"name":"Abby Lattes","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"headline":"Making Space Elevators a Reality","datePublished":"2018-11-19T18:17:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/"},"wordCount":384,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg","keywords":["Robotics","Mechanical Engineering","Sean Sun","Dan Popescu","Space Elevator","Bioengineering","Autonomous Robots","Megastructures"],"articleSection":["Impact"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/","name":"Making Space Elevators a Reality - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-19T18:17:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Making-Space-Elevators-a-Reality-web.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Space elevator"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2018\/11\/making-space-elevators-a-reality\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Making Space Elevators a Reality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742","name":"Abby Lattes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Abby Lattes"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11829,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions\/11829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}