An architect from Cumbria, England, has revealed his ambitious plans to build a space elevator capable of transporting humans to space. Called Ascensio, the elevator is comprised of a long cable tethering an asteroid trapped in geosynchronous orbit to a floating platform back on Earth. According to the BBC, architect Jordan William Hughes won a prize of 8,617 pounds (Rs 909,926) earlier this month from the Jacques Rougerie Foundation, in Paris, for his innovative design. Mr Hughes said the idea may be fanciful today but he believes space elevators will be used in the future.
He said he designed the elevator to replace rockets, saying they are inefficient, expensive and bad for the environment.
"It would revolutionise the way we get to and from space and make it more viable," the architect told the BBC.
How will the elevator work?
Mr Hughes' design involves dropping a cable-like structure from a space port down to earth. He said that drones will transport passengers up and down on the cable like trains on a track.
There will be six cables for each excursion - three accommodating humans and containing oxygen and the other three to store cargo.
Once those on board arrive at the space station - situated 36,000km above Earth - they can stretch out their experience in the cosmic space.
"You're already in space, from that point, you should be able to go anywhere you want," Mr Hughes said while speaking to Dazed.
Will this idea become a reality?
Mr Hughes said the idea has been around for some time but won't become a reality soon.
"This would be a very expensive, very ambitious project and it's not something I'm expecting to be built in the next 10 years. But I am pretty much certain that at some point this will be built. Not my project, but a space elevator," the architect told the BBC.
Mr Hughes said Ascnesio's mobility, light weight and safety features will make it an ideal vehicle for space travel.
