Space Hook WIP-1 by pauljs75
Close
Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.
Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
Description
This is a model of the Space Hook elevator vehicle. On top is the climber tractor assembly. Below that is the pressure vessel which is the operations crew living quarters and passenger ferry. On the bottom (not modeled yet) are the emergency escape pods. Hanging below (this part is not modeled yet) are a multi-tiered system of gantrys which are balanced by outlying balast tanks. The big elongated cube visible near the bottom is a reference for a 40'x9'5"x8' shipping container. Another part essential to function, but not visible (nor modeled) is a gyroscopic stabilization system.
Idea of operation... The elevator base station is a large derrick platform located in calm seas near shipping lanes. This way the suspended gantry system can grapple standard containers from ships moored below. The tow vehicle then hauls cargo to and from space in about a week. Upon reaching the geostationary orbital station, loading and unloading is more straight forward as "space tugs" directly manuever cargo in the zero-G environment. The cargo itself can then be directly hauled to orbital stations or loaded and locked onto specialized tow rockets known as space trains for interplanetary delivery.
Comments (3)
draculaz
VERY nice :)
xenic101
I've read about these things. Seems we're only a few years from having the technology to pull it off. But I have to wonder, what are the railings on the deck for?
pauljs75
So the guys servicing it don't fall off. Well at least while the thing is under the influence of earth's gravity. Of course they'll still have tethers and space suits to do servicing under low/no pressure and zero-g (nano-cable maintenance and emergency work to the elevator unit.) Most maintenance will be done when docked at the earth base station.