Space Elevators
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Companies Involved: N/A
Space Elevators have been envisioned in some form or another for decades. However, this concept really began to take off in the 1990s and 2000s. Why was this? It probably comes down to the issue of science fiction shows and movies having some form of this in play. Usually, when space elevators are discussed, it revolves around a concept where one is taken into low-orbit at a fast speed. The concept often looks a lot like a vertical hyperloop. The idea is that with these elevators, we can build low-orbit research centers for scientists to work on projects that require little to no gravity.
Yet there will be a need to get cargo and people into this low orbit territory, which is where the elevator comes in. The device that one has to be in to go up into space is where the spacecraft designs for these elevators come in. Though very restricted, we would need a craft to do this as we could not rely on some tube to bring people there. Oxygen and gravity levels will matter as well as pressure on the craft. Yet, as you can likely see, spacecraft designs or concepts like this had a lot of technical limitations. If nothing else, think of the cost it would take to build something from the ground all the way to low-orbit space!