Japanese company wants to build a Space Elevator by 2050

The Japanese construction company Obayashi announced that it has the technology to build a Space Elevator by 2050

According to them, the elevator will reach 96,000 km of altitude up to the space, and will transport people or goods to a new space station (also built for the occasion).

It can also provide support for missions to Mars and the external solar system.

The elevator can reduce 90% of the prices for transporting humans and goods to space; this will eliminate the need to use each time propulsion rockets.

The lift will use a 96,000 km long cable made up of carbon nanotubes; Carbon nanotubes are among the lightest and at the same time resistant materials known to man.

Very simply, a cable end will be connected to the Earth’s surface, and the other head will be in space at an altitude of 36,000 km; the end of the cable is attached to a counterweight of 13,000 tons, which helps stabilize the elevator.

The elevator according to the designers can carry 100 tons of people and / or goods; Obayashi plans to begin construction in 2025, and will serve about 20 years to build the cable.

Obayashi said the company’s various parameters and variables were simulated by a computer:

“The variables are cord tension, stretches caused by moving weight, cable mass and counterweight, wind, and many more.”