FrumCA

A spectacular design for a space elevator, with the goal of efficiently transporting passengers into outer space, has been awarded a $11,000 prize.

As the BBC reports, British architect Jordan William Hughes won the prize for space architecture and innovation from the Jacques Rougerie Foundation in Paris.

His concept, dubbed Ascensio, connects an ocean-based ship to a structure in Earth's orbit via a cable-like structure. The ship is designed to keep up with the spaceport by moving around the ocean.

Of course, it's only an inspired work of science fiction and likely won't be built any time soon, if ever. But that doesn't mean we can't dream of a future in which space is a simple elevator ride away.

"It would revolutionize the way we get to and from space and make it more viable," Hughes told the BBC.

Space elevators would elegantly solve one of the biggest hurdles in space travel, foregoing the need for heavy and expensive rockets to access the Earth's orbit. The concept was first envisioned by Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in a 1895 book called "Dreams of Earth and Sky," in which he described an imaginary 22,000-mile tower. Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov later expanded on the idea, describing a cable that connects the Earth's surface to a geosynchronous satellite.

While some experts have posited that space elevators aren't actually as far-fetched as they sound, science still has plenty of catching up to do.

In his interview with the BBC, Hughes admitted that he doesn't expect anything like it to be "built in the next ten years. But I am pretty much certain that at some point this will be built. Not my project, but a space elevator."

"It's a bit fanciful today," he added, "but I'm sure it will happen because this is the only way space travel and space exploration actually works and becomes efficient."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/design-for-space-elevator-wins-prize/ar-AA1myHEs?ocid=msedgntp&pc=EDGEDSE&cvid=951910d7bc8b4595b91e3e2848742cec&ei=42

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

The weight of a 22,000 mile structure is going to be enormous, although the higher you go the less weight each section will add. The foundation supporting it would need to be quite substantial.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

And they awarded him the prize even without taking this into consideration. I'll have to enter my idea to build a highway to Hawaii.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Nice goal, but you might want to start with something smaller, like a walking path.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I proposed using a large slingshot stretched out over thousands of miles of a desolate area to shoot people placed in a pod into space. I guess the judges didn't like my idea because I have yet to get a check for $11,000 in the mail. 😁

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Sippy, your idea is great, only you are directing it to the wrong audience. You need to think in terms of using it for one way trips for politicians, not two way trips for ordinary Joes. Oh, no pods either for the politicians.