SpaceElevatorAnchor

Title: The Anchor
[Cover Img]	About: Moderator: Brad Edwards Created: July 6, 2008 Modified: July 6, 2008	Tags: This is a collaborative article Discipline(s): Wiki, Engineering

The Anchor

The anchor does more than simply hold the end of the ribbon down. The location is critical as is how the ribbon is held.

	Value	Units
Location	Eastern Equatorial Pacific
Facility	Floating ocean-going platform
Dry mass	27,000	tons
Onboard Power	20	MW
Maximum Velocity	20	kph
Cost	70M	dollars

Status:

Overall facility is mature technology that can be purchased immediately. Hold down mechanism requires development.

Good initial report completed by Eric Anderson and Associates File:Anchor report.odt

The climber has the most engineering work that needs to be done and the most opportunity for individuals and groups to get directly involved.

Item	Notes	Completed and Ongoing Efforts
Ocean going platforms and airstrips	An initial study of the anchor station has been completed but we need to know about the adjacent facilities. We need to know what we can do for housing, floating airstrips, additional businesses or other facilities that will be onsite. We need someone to start working on this - design a floating city. It probably doesn't need to be huge but there will be hundreds of primary works and everyone to support them and the clients that will be coming in.. oh yeh, don't forget the half dozen 20 to 100 ton climbers being assembled (inside) and launched that will each stand 40 to 150 feet tall and as wide when ready to launch	Anchor refinement by User 1
Full design of the ribbon attachment mechanism	The bottom end of the ribbon must be held securely under constant tension which means being able to reel in and reel out miles of ribbon at pretty good speeds. This attachment will actuall be very similar to a climber drive system - same tensions, same speeds, same requirements for handling the ribbon. The one additional feature is the spool sitting below deck feeding the hold-down mechanism. On top of this the entire unit must be self contained so it can be moved off the anchor facility to a replacement anchor facility every couple years when the platform needs to go in for repairs - imagine a railroad track between to ships. We need someone to start designing the details and running numbers.