Scientists propose ‘Spaceline elevator’ to reach the Moon

A pair of scientists from Cambridge and Columbia Universities have proposed a Moon elevator which they call Spaceline, which could offer easy access to reach space.

According to the two astronomers, the idea is to develop a tower-like elevator which could reach space instead of launching ships and materials from the surface of the Earth to orbit.

The pair of scientists identified as Zephyr Penoyre and Emily Sandford revealed more about the proposal in their paper.

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“We present the derivations herein as a full standalone mathematical and physical description of the concept, one that we and authors before us have been surprised to find is eminently plausible and may have been overlooked as a major step in the development of our capacity as a species to move within our solar system.

“Spaceline would be more like a skyhook than a tower. A thin, strong piece of material (think the width of a pencil lead) that extends about 225,000 miles from the surface of the Moon to a safe distance above the planet, where it won’t interfere with satellites or encounter our pesky atmosphere.

“Anyone interested in going to the Moon would simply launch to the correct orbit height and sync up with the tip of the Spaceline, where there would no doubt be a station of some kind. From there they could use solar-powered propulsion to zip along the line, no fuel required.

The pair added further in the paper that Spaceline would pass through the Earth-Moon Lagrange point, where there is effectively zero gravity and no other physical interference.

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