Building the Space Elevator, One Step At a Time
Over the summer, some of our interns and I worked on two related projects: a road map for space elevator development, and an online “list” of research questions for building the SE. Both those projects are now ready for release to the public.
First is the road map to space elevator development, outlining what tests and demonstrations need to be done before we can build the first SE. Once we figured out what activities absolutely had to be done, we estimated the time it would take, getting feedback from a couple of independent people with space experience. The short summary is that there are 8 major system tests, and even with optimistic assumptions, the earliest practical date we see for commercial operation of the SE is 2031. (And yes, I’m very happy to say that our countdown clock is going to change to reflect the new date.) The entire roadmap document is online, as are print and screen versions of the roadmap summary schematic (i.e., the pretty picture).
This road map is not ‘complete’ or set in stone by any stretch. We want to make it perfectly clear that we plan on revising it as we get more feedback. After reading through the entire document, please send us your thoughts on what should change. Better yet, discuss it in the forums.
The second project is an open, online resource for SE research. It’s a database of questions and research projects in technical, legal, financial and political fields. The LiftPort Space Elevator Questions Database is open to everyone at questions.liftport.com. We expect it will enable students and researchers from around the world to join the SE community by helping to address the numerous outstanding questions facing the space elevator. Anyone who has basic familiarity with the SE can get an account (just ask, via the online form!) to add their own questions.
Right now there are just over 100 questions, projects, etc. in the database entered mostly by me and a couple of our interns. I expect that number to easily jump past 500 once more people get involved and contribute more detailed questions from their own fields.
BTW, I’ve been doing most of the software development for the site, and I’m not a programmer, so I ask everyone to be gentle with criticisms on the interface. 
There’s quite a bit more functionality planned for the future, but we wanted to open up the site (even without its final functionality) at the same time as the road map to allow people to start looking into the questions.
Between these two projects, we’re starting to connect the dots and figuring out how to get from Point A (the current) to Point B (the space elevator future). Help us plot that path to the future!
October 4th, 2006 at 10:14 am
This is a good idea! I may post some questions about the SE (from various family/friends of mine) as some of them have their doubts.
I think LiftPort Ambassadors may find this useful to, especially if you do not have a degree in chemistry regarding nanotubes (or engineering regarding the lifter robots).
October 4th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
[...] 3 - Building the Space Elevator, One Step At a Time ” … the road map to space elevator development, outlining what tests and demonstrations need to be done before we can build the first SE.” Liftport lays out the agenda. Go for it, guys! (tags: beanstalk orbit engineering roadmap development elevator space Liftport) [...]
October 5th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Congratulations on getting this out. Having spent many years of my life as a System’s Jock and a Project manager, I know how hard it is to get that first “real” project plan on paper. I’ve found that, as a rule, it’s not over or underestimating the time/resource requirements for an individual task that gets you into trouble, it’s forgetting about the task itself. Over and underestimates on individual tasks have a funny way of often cancelling themselves out. But the forgotton tasks are killers.
I plan on participating in this - it should be fun - Congratulations again!
October 6th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
[...] The LiftPort blog entry has the best summary of what’s been released. Congratulations to LiftPort! [...]
October 15th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Thanks to Darnell and Ted and the bloggers for their support and well-wishings!