one could wait five years' for the Russian space hotel, or, one could ride a tethered Space Elevator 2200 miles above the Earth to a space hotel in geostationary orbit :-)
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about the Bowness Island Space Elevator:
The Bowness Island Space Elevator is a quasi-realistic simulation of a machine that will move human beings into space in the near future. The concept of a space elevator is currently being evaluated by NASA, and should become viable within decades.
The fundamental idea of a space elevator is that a sealed cab will climb a tether into geosynchronous orbit (3580 km above sea level). Until recently no material was known to be strong enough to withstand the shearing forces and temperature variations to which the space elevator tether would be subjected. However, carbon nanotubes are strong enough. The challenge will be in manufacturing carbon nanotubes in sufficent quantity to construct a viable tether.
The Bowness Island Space Elevator is propelled by giant electromagnets every sixty meters. The space elevator itself is also magnetized. The elevator is constructed in such a way that when ascending the lower pole of the space elevator is the same polarity as the facing pole of the bottom magnet, and the upper pole is the opposite polarity as the facing pole of the upper magnet. This pushes and pulls the space elevator up. When descending, the polarities of the space elevator are simply reversed to push and pull the space elevator down.
The vertical scale of the Bowness Island Space Elevator is approximately 1:6,400. It will ascend to a height of approximately 560 meters, where geosynchronous orbit will be simulated.
Technical Specifications
Volume of Cab: 1309 cubic meters
Vertical Distance: 513 meters
Height: 560 meters above sea level
Ascending Speed: 1.5 meters per second
Descending Speed: 42.2 meters per second
Actual RL Distance: 3,578,600 meters above sea level
Actual RL Speed: 200 meters per second
Vertical Scale: 1:6,390
Proudly built by Demian Arbizu
