Bradley
C. Edwards, president and founder of Carbon Designs Inc., is the driving force
behind the space elevator, a purportedly safer and cheaper form of transporting
explorers and payloads into space.
Although the idea has appeared in both technical and
fictional literature for decades, the drive to bring it to reality belongs to
Edwards. A cable extending from the Earth's surface to outer space is kept
under tension by the competing forces of gravity on Earth and the outward
rotational acceleration of the planet in space. Once the cable is aloft, the
elevator will be ascended by mechanical means.
Sounds impossible? That's what prompted Edwards to look
further into it. While he had heard of the idea, the turning point was when he
came across a web page in 1998 implying that such a device could not be built
for 300 years, if ever. "It was then that I started looking into it and I just
never stopped," said Edwards in a recent interview with SPACE.com.
"This was just a blanket statement with no justification as
to what the issues were" he added with regards to the information on the
webpage. "I just couldn't believe that it couldn't be built and started to get
sucked in further and further," said Edwards, a curious physicist.
He pursued the realization of the space elevator by
initially tracking grants from NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
program. As the proposed design further developed, the idea generated interest
amongst private investors, launching Edwards' vision.
Edwards, now Director of Research for the Institute for
Scientific Research (ISR), based in Fairmont,
West Virginia, was always
interested in the space program. As a child, he dreamt of becoming an astronaut
and pursued physics in both his undergraduate and graduate studies. However, rejected
by the astronaut program due to asthma, he went on to work at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico,
researching advanced space technologies for 11 years.
Edwards' work included conception and designs of the Europa and Lunar orbiter missions and construction of the
first optical "cryo-cooler", an efficient cooling
system using fluorescence technology. "The space elevator was just sort of the
next step," he said.
The biggest challenge to the space elevator has been
developing a cable tough enough to extend 62,000 miles without breaking. This,
Edwards explained will be solved with carbon nanotube
composites - tiny bundles of carbon weaved together to form a ribbon that will
be stronger than steel. His startup company, Carbon Designs, Inc., is currently
focused on developing this technology.
The space elevator is even more uplifting than it seems.
Spacefarers no longer need to fear the dramatic forces and vibrations normally
experienced with a rocket launch. This vehicle can adjust its speed to accommodate
passengers.
Likewise, cargo and astronauts eliminate the crushing forces
of re entry used by rockets for slowing down when coming back to Earth. "You
can travel as slow as 10 miles per hour, making it [re entry] much safer,"
Edwards said.
In contrast to rockets where most of what's being launched
is fuel, the space elevator moves only the payload, a set of motors, and
structures needed for its operation.
With the fuel cost almost eliminated, only everyday
operations and the mechanical climber expenses remain. Edwards estimates that
the cost of launching into the lower earth orbit will be reduced from $10,000
per pound on Shuttle missions to $100 per pound on the space elevator.
"Once you reduce the
cost to almost a Fed-Ex kind of level, it opens the doors to lots of people,
lots of countries, and lots of companies to get involved in space," Edwards
emphasized. No longer will space travel be limited to the United States, Europe, Russia, China, and other major players.
If a research institution wanted to build a small greenhouse
on the Martian surface, this technology makes the next planet a hop, skip, and
a rotational fling away.
Similarly, a hypothetical company can pursue gaming
enterprises and send a thousand little rovers to the moon, renting time out to
customers who want to control one with a joystick for an hour back here on
Earth.
Such dramatic increase in the size and activity of the space
market would boost our understanding of the universe and generate other
yet-unimaginable benefits, Edwards predicts.
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