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草图已经拟就,理论上也没有任何问题。也许是15年,也许是30年,美国科学家将在赤道附近建成近10万千米的太空电梯,它矗立在一座25千米高的巨大平台上。它的轨道骨架是用碳纳米管合成的超级材料。它最多可承载200多部电梯,每小时可运行200千米,7天后抵达同步轨道。届时,向国际空间站运送货物的成本将由1千克1.1万美元降至110美元。这样将物体送入太空的成本只是目前各种运载工具开销的“零头”。设计者估计,谁抢先建成太空电梯,谁将至少统治外太空100年。未来,有可能造出10部这样的电梯,也有可能造出延伸到月亮和火星的巨型电梯。
Sketches have been drafted and there are no theoretical problems. Perhaps 15 years, maybe 30 years, American scientists will build nearly 100,000 kilometers of space elevators near the equator, which stands on a huge platform 25 kilometers high. Its orbital skeleton is a super material synthesized with carbon nanotubes. It can carry up to more than 200 elevators, can run 200 kilometers per hour, and arrive in synchro orbit 7 days later. By that time, the cost of shipping the goods to the International Space Station will be reduced from 1 kilogram of 11,000 U.S. dollars to 110 U.S. dollars. The cost of sending objects into space like this is only a fraction of the current cost of various vehicles. Designers estimate who will be the first to build a space elevator and who will rule outer space for at least 100 years. In the future, it is possible to build 10 such elevators, and it is also possible to build giant elevators that extend to the moon and Mars.