Space Elevators
Space Elevators Reuters

A Canadian company has designed a giant elevator in the form of a 20-kilometre high tower. This would propel the astronauts directly into the spacial stratosphere. The company, Thoth Technology Inc, has been granted the UK and US patents for the design of such an elevator.

The Guardian reports that the ThothX Tower will be in the form of an inflatable, free standing structure. The structure will have an electricity-powered elevator that can run up to a distance of 12.5 miles above the Earth's surface.

“Astronauts would ascend to 20km by electrical elevator. From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refuelling and reflight,” said the inventor of the tower, Brendan Quine, in a statement.

Traditionally, rocket ships are used to reach the regions above the Earth. A rocket ship expels mass at a high velocity to achieve thrust in the direction opposite to the direction of the space travel. However, Quine says that rocket ships require an enormous amount of energy to counterbalance the strong gravitational force, which pulls it toward itself. On the other hand, the elevator system does not require this much amount of energy, since there is not much expulsion mass that needs to be carried to work against the gravitational pull.

“Part of the limitation of space travel is the cost of getting to space,” Quine said in an interview with The Guardian. “The tower could change space travel because professional rockets are very energy intensive and not very environmentally friendly.”

The president and CEO of the Thoth Technology, Caroline Roberts, believes that the tower, along with the self-landing rocket technologies, would mark a new beginning in the field of space transportation. The Independent reports that the self-landing rocket technologies are being developed by other companies.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au, or let us know what you think below.

RELATED STORIES