Ultra-tall structures – from ground into space




There are plenty of web articles about space elevators already so I don’t need to repeat everything here. But a space elevator is supported from above, a regular building is supported from below. How can we build one very tall from the ground?

I recently issued a report on 2045 construction that among other things also discussed spaceports up to 30km tall:


A 30km tall spaceport on Earth could make use of atmospheric buoyancy for the lower end which of course we wouldn’t get on the moon for the spaceport coming home, but we also wouldn’t get wind on the moon to add stresses. On the moon gravity is less so the structure could be much taller. On the moon a graphene structure could form as much as the bottom 150-200km of the climb. It might offer a nice synergy. The diagram above shows some of the possible structure for the columns, biomimetically inspired by plant stems, though this is just one suggestions, and there are very many ways they could be designed.

This could be enhanced by filling columns with graphene foam:


Since I wrote that, carbon foams have been made and they are 6 times lighter than air.


This could be used to make super-tall structures for science and tourism or spaceports, or a home for celebrities, well out of sight of the Paparazzi.



So, think of making such a structure, with three columns in a triangular cross-section meeting at 43 degrees at the top (I recall once calculating that is the optimal angle for the strongest A frame in terms of load-bearing to weight ratio, though it ignores buoyancy effects, so ‘needs more work’.

30km tall structures would not be ideal for large scale habitation, since much of the strength in the structure would be to support the upper parts of the structure itself and whatever platform loading is needed. But for a celebrity home, small military observation base or a decent sized lab, it might be fine. The idea may be perfect for pressurised platforms at the top for scientific research, environmental monitoring, telescopes, space launches, tourism and so on. The extreme difference in temperature may have energy production uses too.


A simple addition to this would be to add balloons to the columns at various points to add extra buoyancy, but they cannot give much extra lift once the atmosphere is too thin so probably wouldn’t make much difference.

Nevertheless, the physics limits are pretty good. 30km is a reasonably achievable goal for a 2045 spaceport, but given the known strength of graphene and carbon nanotubes, a 600km tall building on Earth would be the limit, and that is higher than the Hubble telescope!


One response to “Ultra-tall structures – from ground into space

  1. Pingback: The Carbon Trio’s Base (The Car-Base?) | Carbon Weapons

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