Japan’s Space Elevator Expected to Be Built By 2050

Japan’s Space Elevator Expected to Be Built By 2050

In 1979, famed science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, wrote a book titled The Fountains of Paradise, in which a future society builds an elevator to space from a tiny island on the equator. Now, Clarke’s vision may soon come to fruition when a Japanese company begins work on its own space elevator.

What is a Space Elevator?

A space elevator is hypothetical for now, but Japanese construction giant, Obayashi Corporation, believes the necessary technology to build one could be ready in the next 10 to 12 years. The biggest hurdle at this point is developing a material strong enough to build cables 60,000 miles long and capable of transporting 100-ton cargo.

The elevator would essentially consist of a space station tethered between an anchor and a counterweight in Earth’s orbit. Dangling down from the station would be a series of cables made of carbon nanotubes – a real material developed 20 years ago that is stronger than steel by a factor of nearly 10. The only problem is that we haven’t quite figured out how to scale the technology. At the moment, we’ve only been able to create a few-centimeter-long stretch of them.

Once those tubes are scaled, which Obayashi believes will happen by 2030, an anchor would be built on Earth somewhere along the equator that would attach to the space station and a counterweight further up. The station would reside in what’s called Clarke orbit, or geostationary orbit, named after the sci-fi author himself. In this scenario, an object remains in orbit over a single point on the equator, an obvious necessity for a space elevator to be feasible.

 

elevator to space

Obayashi’s concept

 

The elevator cabin itself would ascend at about 120 miles per hour and carry a maximum capacity of about 30 people. For propulsion, it might be powered by a laser shot up from Earth that would supply it with the energy needed to climb the cables.

The trip would take about a week and function as a platform for scientific research, a launch point for space travel, and a mode of space tourism. The elevator could cut the cost of transporting materials into orbit by a factor of 100, which could propel space programs and colonization efforts at an astounding rate.

One man who has devoted his life to studying the viability of space elevators is Michael Lane, and he’s raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter to work on models and prototypes. Laine wants to first build a space elevator on the moon, because a weaker material could be used for the cables, like Kevlar.

On the moon there’s little gravity and no ice or wind, presenting ideal conditions for an elevator. Also the setup would only require roughly the strength of a strong man to hold the system in place. Laine’s idea proposes that rare earth elements could be harvested and brought back to earth, creating a booming space mining operation.

 

Is the Space Elevator Possible?

The Obayashi Corporation believes it can have the space elevator functioning by 2050 if carbon nanotubes become scalable by 2030. The company says that it holds competitions among university students to encourage them to study and advance the technology. Although over the past several years, advancements in AI like ARES (Autonomous Research System), allow scientists to let robots conduct, analyze and test hundreds of experiments autonomously, adding to the chance that nanotubes will be scaled within Obayashi’s timeline.

Obayashi is a massive construction and development firm in Tokyo that is responsible for a number of large scale engineering feats across the world. One structure designed by the company, the TOKYO SKYTREE, is the largest free-standing tower in the world, at just over 2,000 feet.

 

obayashi space elevator

 

According to the company’s plan, there will be a series of anchors to counterbalance the elevator. The space station that would serve as the final destination would be situated at about 22,000 miles above Earth. Further out would be the anchor at an altitude of about 60,000 miles. Before the primary station there would be additional hubs at altitudes where one could experience the level of gravity on the moon and on Mars, which would be ideal for conducting experiments for future missions.

Not everyone believes that a space elevator will be built as easily as Obayashi does. Elon Musk has scoffed at the idea, saying that until someone builds a structure made of carbon nanotubes longer than a footbridge, he won’t consider the possibility of a space elevator. Musk also says he believes that until we have a carbon nanotube trans-oceanic bridge, say between LA and Tokyo, we shouldn’t be talking about building space elevators.

A trans-oceanic bridge seems rather silly though, considering we have the ability to fly across oceans in a much more efficient manner. Why would anyone want to spend days driving from LA to Tokyo when they could fly? Even bullet trains aren’t fast enough for a transoceanic bridge to be meaningful.

But no major technological feat has ever occurred without its detractors and naysayers who claim these visions to be impossible or impractical. Maybe Musk is right and rockets or alternative jet propulsion will reign supreme over space elevators, but Obayashi plans on continuing its lofty aspiration, with others following suit. Will Arthur C. Clarke’s vision one day come to be realized?



Are Humans Being Recruited for Breakaway Civilizations?

Did you ever wake up in the morning and feel like something was off-kilter? Perhaps you were worried about finances or visiting in-laws. However, if you were a breakaway civilization recruit your waking moments might be more like this:

You feel like you were asleep forever, but the clock says it is just a few hours later than when you went to bed. Maybe you just had an incredibly long and detailed dream. After several flashbacks or moments of déjà vu, you recall that you were a member of a Secret Space Program (SSP) and spent years living on Mars as part of a human colony. You remember stopping by the moon for a short time when going to or coming from Mars.

People are recruited for these colonies, known as breakaway civilizations when their particular skills are needed in a new civilization. Explore how breakaway civilizations may be essential for the future of humanity and potential recruitment criteria for colonists.

Breakaway Civilizations; An Off-Planet Solution?

In the early 1940s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became concerned that a catastrophic event would require the movement of large masses of people away from areas of destruction. The problem became more dangerous when FDR discovered there was no one place on the planet that could accommodate such large groups. He even explored the idea of digging tunnels and underground shelters. These plans seemed unworkable, so he explored the idea of developing off-planet solutions, like establishing colonies on the Moon, Mars, or Venus.

Hackers Uncover Evidence of Breakaway Civilizations

There is strong evidence that breakaway civilizations have existed on the moon and Mars for many years. Two independent computer hackers accessed government computers and found reports indicating there were colonies on the moon and Mars. One hacker, Matthew Bevan, accessed the files in the early 1990s. The other one, Gary McKinnon, accessed records in the early 2000s.

Breakaway Civilizations: Recruitment

There are three recruitment categories for Breakaway Civilizations:

  1. Some recruits are made
  2. Some recruits are asked
  3. Some recruits are taken

1. SOME ARE MADE

Randy Cramer believes he was designated to be part of the SSP and go to Mars prior to his birth. He had no choice and was predestined to be a Breakaway Civilization participant.

2. SOME ARE ASKED

Laura Magdalene Eisenhower, great-granddaughter of President Eisenhower, has shared her experiences of being actively recruited to go to Mars. Eisenhower felt she had been targeted before she was born, but it wasn’t until she was a single mother with twin boys that she was asked. She turned down the “opportunity,” but she has provided details of the attempt that was made to get her to join the project.

3. SOME ARE TAKEN

David Paulides heads a group of retired police officers and others who are experienced Search and Rescue experts (SAR). Their mission is to investigate the thousands of reports every year of missing persons. Paulides documents the mysterious disappearances of people around the world. He says these people are “brilliant scholars, athletes and stellar people.” They suddenly disappear under questionable circumstances.

Development of Technology Supports The Existence of Breakaway Civilizations

There is evidence that technology for space travel now allows people to travel from Earth to the moon or Mars without traversing the distance between the places. This technology involves teleportation or some type of secret portal. When you consider all the advancements that have been made in technology that we use in our daily lives, it makes sense that similar advances would be made in the technology used for space travel.

We have gone from fax machines to scanners and email. From landlines to cell phones. We have gone from the original computer that was the size of a large closet to handheld devices with many more available functions. So, isn’t it possible that space travel technology would also experience such advancements, including how to travel in space by teleportation through portals or some other equally fast way?

Mind Control Devices: Project MK-Ultra

The CIA is known for several mind control programs. Project MKUltra, a secret CIA project designed to test the effect of drugs on humans, was conducted on unwitting subjects from 1953 to 1964. During the program, experimenters gave test subjects drugs that caused them to have hallucinations and other adverse reactions. Other drugs erased memories of time and events.

In 1976, the U.S. Senate investigated the MKUltra program. Senators were shocked by some of their discoveries. For example, Congress learned that the secret program was designed to discover drugs that could help people “withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called brain-washing” and other drugs “which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.”

Using these drugs, along with technology learned from aliens, explains why Randy Cramer and the other whistleblowers would at first have no recollection of their trip. Other drugs to reverse memory loss along with therapy allowed them to recover their memories. Some people view the concept of breakaway civilizations as a “pipe dream” shared by a few folks who are trying to bask in their 15 minutes of fame by telling their incredible stories of life on Mars. What do you think? Share your comments below.

Want more like this article?

Don’t miss Deep Space on Gaia for more on the long and hidden history of Earth’s secret space program.

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