LONDON: The top of a space elevator platform recently patented by Thoth Technology of Pembroke, Ont. is shown in this artist’s concept. The company thinks a 20-kilometre-high version could be built within 10 years.
A Canadian company has clinched a patent for a 12.4 mile-high “space elevator” that could launch astronauts and tourists into orbit.
The free-standing tower would essentially be inflated, supported by a series of gas-pressurized cells, and serve as a docking platform for space planes that could launch cargo, tourists and satellites directly into lower orbit.
Thoth Technology, the Ontario-based company behind the invention, told CNBC the elevator could transport 10 tons of cargo at approximately seven miles per hour, with passengers able to reach the top of the tower in about 60 minutes. Passengers could then board a space plane that could reach lower orbit without the need for a costly rocket launch.
The elevator weighs about the same amount as a super crude tanker ship and is expected to cost about $5 billion to build. Thoth Technology said that once built, it will reduce the cost of reaching low Earth orbit by 30 percent compared to conventional rockets.
Traditional rocket launches can cost upwards of $250 million, while cheaper commercial offerings like those offered by SpaceX — the commercial aerospace company founded by Elon Musk— lists the launch price of its Falcon 9 rocket at $61.2 million and it’s Falcon Heavy model at $90 million.
