In the animated movie Toy Story, one of the central characters Buzz Lightyear, a frustrated toy astronaut, was known to repeat "To infinity and beyond" before trying different ways to launch into space.
The 20 km Space Tower. Image courtesy of THOTHX.COM
Far from an animated movie, a professor at the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University is putting some teeth into Buzz Lightyear's motto by successfully securing an American patent for an invention that has the potential to change the way we travel into space.
Lassonde School of Engineering Professor Ben Quine attracted global attention this week with the news that his company, Thoth Technology, has been granted the United States patent for the space elevator.
A space elevator is a free standing structure or space tower reaching 20 kilometres (km) above the planet. The tower would stand more than 20 times the height of the world's tallest structures. It would have the potential launch satellites, and space transport vehicles carrying astronauts and payloads into orbit around the Earth. Quine imagines that his invention could also be used for wind energy generation using turbines, serve as a communications tower and could dramatically alter the space tourism industry.
One of the most difficult aspects of launching conventional rockets and transportation vehicles into space is the danger associated with leaving gravity behind. The key advantage of the space elevator is its height, reaching into low Earth orbit where the impact of gravity is much less. The tower would sit in the stratosphere below the area where satellites fly. The space elevator could play a critical role in reducing the time, cost and the risk associated with launching payloads and astronauts from the Earth's surface.
Brendan "Ben" Quine
Constructed from Kevlar, the free-standing structure would use pneumatically-inflated sections pressurized with lightweight gas such as hydrogen or helium, to actively stabilize itself and allow for flexibility. A series of platforms or pods, supported by the elevator, would be used to launch satellites, spacecraft and payloads into Earth's orbit. The technology offers an exciting new way to access space using completely reusable hardware said Quine who estimates that it would save more than 30 per cent of the fuel required for a conventional rocket.
“Astronauts would ascend to 20 km by electrical elevator. From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refueling and reflight,” said Quine, who is the inventor of the space elevator.
Quine is an associate professor in Space Engineering at Lassonde and Chief Technology Officer for the Pembroke-based company. He has even built a seven-metre model that has been showcased at engineering school on York U's Keele campus.
Thoth President and CEO, Caroline Roberts, believes the space tower, coupled with self-landing rocket technologies being developed by others, will herald a new era of space transportation.
“Landing on a barge at sea level is a great demonstration, but landing at 12 miles above sea level will make space flight more like taking a passenger jet,” she said.
An image showing the landing platform on the space tower
Working with Quine to develop the technology are Lassonde grads Catherine Tsouvaltsidis, head of Research & Development at Thoth Technology and Ian Tomaszewski, who is a space systems specialist at Thoth Technology. Both are graduates of the Space Engineering program at the engineering school.
The news of Thoth Technology's patent was featured in numerous media outlets across the world, including the Guardian and Telegraph newspapers, NBC News, CNBC, The Globe and Mail, the National Post, Toronto Star and CBC News.
For more information, follow the link for US Patent 9085897 “Space Elevator”: http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week29/OG/patent.html. To access the patent information, enter the number 9085897 and click on "full text".
*Article courtesy of yFile