SpaceElevatorRibbon

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The Ribbon

The core of the Space Elevator is the physical connection between Earth and space. In our baseline design this connection is in the form of a ribbon though earlier designs discussed a round cable.

The primary technical challenge to building the Space elevator has always been the availability of material with sufficient strength. The availability and strength of this material drives all aspects of the space elevator.


Value Units
Material Carbon nanotube
Width 1 meter
Length 100,000 kilometers
Small scale design Spun thread


These images show the proposed basic design though not completely to scale. Many small axial, load-bearing fibers are held in a ribbon configuration by orthogonal epoxy, adhesive tape or woven interconnects. increasing the size of the ribbon is accomplished by splicing additional ribbons to the sides or face of the initial ribbon.

Discussions on the ribbon can be found File:Cable write up.odt and the basic spreadsheet for cable calculations for different planets, lift capabilities, lengths, etc. can be found in this File:Cable worksheet.ods

Insert Sketchup graphic and related Sketchup file http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=bd063afd8c6594bb86852bf1a7913ebc&prevstart=0

Major Development Issues Related to this Component

  1. Stored Energy Release in Ribbon
  2. Splicing Ribbons During Construction
  3. Optimizing Ribbon Design
  4. Atomic Oxygen Effects on Ribbon
  5. Spooling of the Ribbon for Deployment
  6. Degradation of the Ribbon in the Space Environment
  7. Attaching the Ribbon to the Anchor

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