For this final project, I modeled a space elevator. I chose to do this because I thought it would be cool to model an object that right now can only exist in theory, since humans are not yet able to find the materials to build a working space elevator.
Stage 1: Initial Designs and Research
I used some research sources such as this one and this one to formulate my approach to the space elevator's design. The elements that I will be focusing on are the elevator's cargo and motor bay, the elevator's lifter, the mobile ocean platform, and the counterweight in space.
The elevator's cargo and motor bays will be housed in something of a rounded out box that can bend the air currents around it and make it more steady as it ascends through the atmosphere. The lifter portion of the elevator will be housed on the inside of the elevator, which means that the cable will go through the elevator in a way that resembles a backwards elevator shaft, in which the elevator will be gripping the cable instead of walls around it.
The cable will be made out of carbon nanotubes woven into a rope-like structure. The lifters will include traction-tread rollers that can grip this cable and push the elevator all the way to the top.
The elevator will originate on a mobile ocean platform, which will have some facilities such as a ship dock and a dormitory. It will also come with a control room, an anchor, and propellers that will allow for moving and maintaining coordinates. It is necessary to have a mobile platform so that its location can be maneuvered to avoid space debris.
At the other end of the cable in space will be a counterweight that will act to balance the forces exerted during the elevator's ascent and descent. I'm thinking to make the counterweight into a mini space port that astronauts can use to move themselves and payloads between other space structures.
In perspective with the Earth, the mobile platform will be located within parts of the ocean close to the Earth's equator, and the cable will extend about 35km outwards towards the counterweight at the geosynchronous level, which is necessary in order to keep the cable in a straight line with the Earth's rotation.
Stage 2: Modeling in Rhino
To work towards my final designs, I have modeled the three components that I want to focus on, which are the ocean platform, the counterweight, and the overall space elevator system with the Earth. I tried to draw everything within the scale that each component would be if it were made in real life, working in the Rhino environment using meters. I've changed some details about certain components, but I've kept my original concept the same.
I modeled the ocean platform as a square area that measures 300m x 300m x 40m, which was meant to be slightly shorter but similar in length to a container ship (shown in purple). The elevator itself is the green box on a platform that sits directly in the middle of the ocean platform, and more buildings and facilities will be added around its perimeter to signify a sort of "base area" for people and objects to hang around before using the space elevator. The platform comes with ship docks and a floating base (shown in yellow).
Space elevator mobile ocean platform
At the other end of the cable in space will be a space colony that will act as a counterweight. I designed the colony from the concept of the Stanford Torus, which is a rotating colony based inside the inner ring of the 1.8km-diameter torus that would provide artificial gravity for its inhabitants. The elevator would end its journey here, where people and objects can make their way through the colony and possibly travel further out into space from one of the four spaceship departure gates around the torus.
Since this project is based on visualizing the entire system of the space elevator, I have also modeled the Earth to scale with the cable stretching 35,786 km (35786000 m) outwards towards the geostationary equatorial orbit. The space colony counterweight barely registers as a tiny spec at the other end of the cable.
Stage 3: Final iteration
In my final iteration, I've added more elements to the ocean platform and also modeled parts of the elevator with human figures to give a sense of the size of the elevator itself. The 14m x 14m x 30m elevator would have space to store several shipping containers of supplies and has enough space to accommodate humans in the area of a 4200 square-foot two-story house.
Final ocean platform
For the elevator itself, I wasn't able to find any solid information about how stable the elevator would be during its ascent, so I've left the interior details of the human riding space undetermined for now. For example, if the ride could be unstable, the humans may be strapped into chairs for the majority of the ride. Or if the ride could be more stable, there may be lounge furniture set up to make the ride as comfortable as possible. I downloaded a 3D human model online from a free downloading website and used it for the individual humans in my model.
There is a shaft going through the elevator's body where the cable would be fed through to move up and down along the system. I have modeled a space near the top of the elevator where the electric motor would reside along with a series of traction-tread rollers along the cable shaft. I have also modeled space below where shipping containers can be stored. There is also space above what is currently available for the cargo bay, and cargo can probably be stored up to the first floor of the human area.
The space elevator with space for supplies and humans
I tried applying the ocean platform and the space habitat to the overall system connected with the Earth. Again, the platform and space habitat appear very tiny relative to the Earth. Interestingly, if I view the platform and the space habitat right on top of each other, they seem to be clearly visible together, however this may be a result of the Rhino software rendering these objects as connected by the cable.
Ocean platform placed on the Earth's surface at a spot on its equator
Space habitat barely visible against the big blue Earth
Ocean platform can be seen right under the space habitat, possibly due to Rhino's software
Here are some renderings of the objects in the space elevator system.
Ocean platform render
Space habitat render
Elevator render