Next stop, SPACE: Inside the bizarre plan to build a ‘space elevator’ that could transport passengers to the cosmos
It is something that many people dream of.
And now it looks like space travel could soon be as easy as getting into an elevator.
So says Jordan William Hughes, a Barrow-born architect who has ambitious plans for a ‘space elevator’.
This revolutionary form of space travel could replace inefficient rockets with a cable connecting Earth to an orbiting satellite, Hughes said.
And while his designs may not be feasible now, Hughes believes space elevators will be an important form of transportation in the future.
It is something that many people dream of. And now it looks like space travel could soon be as easy as getting into an elevator
Jordan William Hughes, a Barrow-born architect, has ambitious plans for a ‘space elevator’. This revolutionary form of space travel could replace inefficient rockets with a cable connecting Earth to an orbiting satellite, Hughes said.
A space elevator is designed to be an easier way to escape Earth’s gravity than using rockets, because capsules can simply climb up and down the cable.
Mr Hughes recently won the Jacques Rougerie Foundation Prize of €10,000 for his design of a system to easily transport passengers and cargo to the stars.
His space elevator, which he has named Ascensio, would consist of an extremely long cable that tethers an asteroid stuck in geosynchronous orbit to a floating platform on Earth.
Drones can climb up and down this cable like trains on a vertical track, moving people and cargo into and out of the atmosphere.
Six drones – three for cargo and three with windows and oxygen for people – would shuttle back and forth to the space station along the cable.
The space station itself would be placed 36,000 km above Earth, more than 78 times higher than the International Space Station.
However, Mr Hughes says the space station can be seen as a train station and is “more of a gateway to the outside world than a final destination.”
“You’re already in space, from then on you should be able to go anywhere you want.” Mr Hughes told Dazed.
The designs include six climbing drones, three for cargo and three, like this one, with windows and oxygen for comfortable passenger transit
At the very top of the cable, the space station would act as a train station. Passengers could arrive from Earth and then board spaceships bound for other parts of the solar system
But Mr Hughes did not want the design to be as blandly functional as the train station comparison might suggest.
He says, “If you go to space, you shouldn’t stay in an Airbnb, it should be an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
For that reason, Mr. Hughes’ designs are the absolute pinnacle of luxury, with decadent pools, zero-gravity walkways and, of course, breathtaking views of the Earth.
On the other side of the cable, back on Earth, Mr. Hughes has designed a beautiful floating island, complete with landscaped gardens and other attractions.
But Mr Hughes says: ‘This is not a project that was solely based on visuals.
‘I love creating really beautiful images and exciting spaces, that’s what I do, but the competition was very much about research and development… trying to create a holistic design that would really work.’
For example, the floating island means the entire elevator can be moved to avoid storms on Earth and debris in space.
This would make space travel independent of weather, which is currently a major problem for commercial efforts.
Mr Hughes’ designs showcase a luxurious vision of space travel with swimming pools offering sweeping views of Earth
Zero-gravity walkways would give space station visitors a real taste of the astronaut experience as they float through the orbiting satellite
Still, the main benefit of the space elevator is that it would actually make traveling to space a lot cheaper.
Traveling to space on a rocket is extremely expensive and inefficient due to the enormous forces required to escape Earth’s gravity.
For example, launching a Falcon 9 rocket 300 miles to the International Space Station currently costs $67 million (£53 million).
Mr Hughes says: ‘Currently rockets (to put something into space) cost millions of dollars per pound.
“A space elevator should be able to reduce that to a few dollars per pound in the long run.”
Mr Hughes says visiting a space shouldn’t be like going to an Airbnb. Instead, his designs show that visiting space should be an incredible, unique experience
There are a few technical problems standing in the way of Mr. Hughes and his dreams of cheap space travel; the biggest is the need for new materials.
The cable connecting Earth to the station will be held under enormous tension as gravity and centrifugal force pull it in opposite directions.
There is currently no material that is both light and strong enough to play this role, but Mr Hughes remains optimistic about the future.
“In terms of humanity looking to the future, I think it’s realistic. I think it’s necessary,” he said.
Although the technology to build this station is not yet there, Mr Hughes is optimistic that technological advances will make it possible
In 2018, Japanese construction company Obayashi announced it was exploring ways to create a space elevator for tourists by 2050, at an estimated cost of £6 billion.
The most promising suggestion so far is to use carbon nanotubes, a cylinder made up of carbon atoms, to create an ultra-light cable.
However, these technologies are still far from being produced on the scale needed to bring Hughes’ designs to life.
Mr Hughes concluded: ‘I really hope we get to see some of these amazing pieces of space architecture that we see in science fiction.
‘But for that to become reality, we need a different way of working. That was the whole driving force.”