Chapter 203 Preliminary Research on Space Elevator

On the third day after the success of Carbon Nanotubess, Lin Mo locked himself in his office.

Spread out on the desk were not experimental data, but a brand-new set of blueprints—the [Overall Space Elevator Design Scheme] just unlocked by the system. It was a thick stack, at least five hundred pages long.

He started reading from the first page.

Chapter One: General Concept

"A space elevator is a giant transportation system connecting the Earth's surface with a geostationary orbit space station. It mainly consists of three parts: a Ground Anchor Platform, cables, and a Geostationary Orbit Counterweight Station..."

Lin Mo flipped to the next page, which was a panoramic schematic diagram.

A slender line extended straight up from the equatorial sea surface, passing through the atmosphere, through low Earth orbit, and all the way to geostationary orbit thirty-six thousand kilometers away. At the end of the line was a huge ring-shaped structure—the counterweight station.

Key data were noted next to the schematic:

Total cable length: 36,000 kilometers

2.8 times the Earth's diameter

One-tenth the distance to the Moon

Ground Anchor Platform: Located in equatorial waters, floating structure, area of 5 square kilometers

Can withstand Category 12 typhoons

Equipped with a laser power supply system

Geostationary Orbit Counterweight Station: Mass of 1,000 tons

Includes Spaceport, maintenance center, and transfer hub

Can dock 10 spacecraft simultaneously

Elevator Car: Load capacity of 100 tons

Speed of 500 kilometers per hour

One-way transport time: 72 hours

Lin Mo stared at those numbers, unable to look away for a long time.

Thirty-six thousand kilometers.

This was the longest structure ever built by mankind, far longer than any bridge, any tunnel, or any building on Earth—not just by one order of magnitude, but by three.

If Earth were compared to an apple, this cable would be a strand of hair extending from the apple's surface all the way to a distance of two meters away from the apple.

He flipped to the next page.

Chapter Two: Materials and Processes

"The core of the space elevator is the cable. The cable must simultaneously possess extremely high tensile strength and extremely low density. Traditional materials cannot meet the requirements; only Carbon Nanotubes fibers have the potential to achieve this..."

Carbon Nanotubes cable design parameters:

Single fiber diameter: 1.8 nanometers

Single fiber strength: Above 80 GPa

Cable structure: Woven from hundreds of millions of fibers

Cable diameter: 5 centimeters

Load-bearing capacity: 100 tons (Safety factor 2.0)

Lin Mo gasped as he looked at the words "hundreds of millions of fibers."

Hundreds of millions.

They had just achieved 100 meters of continuous drawing, but the space elevator needed—thirty-six thousand kilometers.

He did a quick calculation: 100 meters of fiber weighs about 0.1 grams. For one kilometer, ten thousand 100-meter fibers need to be woven into a single strand. For thirty-six thousand kilometers, thirty-six thousand strands are needed.

In other words, the total length of fiber needed is:

100 meters × 10,000 fibers × 36,000 strands = 3.6 trillion meters

Which is 3.6 billion kilometers.

It could circle the Earth ninety thousand times.

It could travel back and forth between the Earth and the Sun twelve times.

Lin Mo put down the blueprints, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

3.6 billion kilometers.

This number was so large it made one lose all sense of the concept.

But he knew he had to start now.

At three in the afternoon, Li Xiao knocked and entered.

"Senior Brother, you didn't eat lunch again." She placed a lunch box on the desk. "Master Liu told me to watch you finish it."

Lin Mo glanced at the lunch box but didn't move.

Li Xiao leaned over to look at the blueprints on the desk. "What's this? It's so thick—"

She flipped through a few pages, her eyes widening more and more:

"Senior Brother, is this... a space elevator?"

Lin Mo nodded.

Li Xiao continued flipping, and when she reached the cable page, she froze.

"3.6 billion kilometers?" Her voice trembled slightly. "How... how many years will it take to build this?"

Lin Mo thought for a moment. "At our current production capacity, a thousand years."

Li Xiao gasped.

"But capacity can be increased," Lin Mo continued. "Once the thousand-ton production line is completed, it will produce a thousand tons of Carbon Nanotubes fiber annually. With a thousand tons, roughly how many kilometers can be drawn?"

Li Xiao did some mental math. "One ton of fiber, calculated with a diameter of 1.8 nanometers and a density of 1.3 grams per cubic centimeter... can draw about... 3 billion kilometers?"

Lin Mo nodded. "3 billion kilometers. A thousand tons would be 3 trillion kilometers."

Li Xiao's eyes went wide. "Then... then we only need..."

"Twelve tons," Lin Mo said. "Twelve tons of fiber can build one cable."

Li Xiao was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled:

"Twelve tons! Our thousand-ton production line can produce a thousand tons a year, enough to build more than eighty!"

Lin Mo shook his head. "It's not calculated that way. The thousand-ton production line refers to the annual production of a thousand tons of Carbon Nanotubes raw material, not finished fiber. From raw material to finished fiber, there are processes like weaving, compounding, and testing, with significant losses. Moreover, the space elevator doesn't need just one cable, but a composite cable woven from hundreds of millions of fibers—a weaving process we haven't mastered yet."

Li Xiao's excitement was dampened a bit, but it quickly flared up again:

"But at least the material problem is solved! The rest is just a matter of time!"

Lin Mo nodded. "Correct. With the material solved, the rest is just time."

He stood up and walked to the window:

"Within five years, build the thousand-ton production line. Within ten years, complete the breakthrough in weaving technology. Within fifteen years, begin cable manufacturing. Within twenty years, the first space elevator will be completed."

He turned around and looked at Li Xiao:

"In twenty years, I'll be fifty-two. You'll be forty-four. Chen Xueming will be fifty-four. Brother Zhao will be sixty-one. We can all see it completed with our own eyes."

Li Xiao's eyes grew a bit red:

"Senior Brother, I will definitely live to see that day."

Lin Mo smiled. "Don't say such unlucky things. Live, and live well, to see that day arrive."

That evening, Lin Mo began writing the preliminary research report.

He opened his computer, created a new document, and typed the title:

Report on Launching the 'Space Elevator' Preliminary Research Project

Then he began writing the main text.

I. Project Background

Following the successful ignition of Controlled Nuclear Fusion, our country now possesses inexhaustible clean energy. The breakthrough in industrial mass production technology for Carbon Nanotubess has provided mankind with the ideal material required to build a space elevator for the first time. In this context, launching preliminary research for a space elevator has both the technical and material foundations...

II. Project Significance

The space elevator is a key step for humanity to reach the stars. Once completed, aerospace transport costs will drop from the current tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram to hundreds of yuan per kilogram, a decrease of two orders of magnitude. This will completely revolutionize the way humans enter space, laying the foundation for large-scale space development, lunar base construction, and Mars colonization...

III. Project Difficulties

Materials: Industrial mass production of Carbon Nanotubes fibers has just broken through, but there is still a huge gap compared to the total of 3.6 billion kilometers required for a space elevator. We must accelerate the construction of the thousand-ton production line and overcome the fiber weaving process.

Energy: The Elevator Car requires continuous power. The preliminary plan uses wireless laser power transmission, with ground platforms using Nuclear Fusion for power generation and transmitting energy to the Elevator Car via laser beams. This technology is still in the theoretical stage and requires breakthroughs.

Construction: How to "release" a 36,000-kilometer-long cable from the ground into space? How to ensure no tangling occurs during the release process? How to deal with space debris and micrometeorite impacts? There are no existing answers to these questions.

Safety: Once completed, the space elevator will become a national strategic asset and a potential target for attack. We must simultaneously design supporting systems for counter-terrorism, anti-satellite weapons, and space situational awareness...

IV. Preliminary Planning

Phase One (2037-2040): Complete the construction of the thousand-ton Carbon Nanotubes production line, and simultaneously carry out key technological breakthroughs in weaving processes, laser power transmission, and space debris monitoring.

Phase Two (2041-2045): Start cable manufacturing, complete the site selection and design of the Ground Anchor Platform, and build the Geostationary Orbit Counterweight Station.

Phase Three (2046-2050): Begin cable laying, and simultaneously build supporting facilities such as Elevator Cars and Spaceports.

Phase Four (2051-2055): Complete the construction of the first space elevator and put it into trial operation...

Lin Mo wrote until three in the morning, finally finishing the first draft.

He saved the document, encrypted it, and sent it to Fang Lin.

Less than five minutes later, his phone rang.

"Lin Mo," Fang Lin's voice was a bit raspy—clearly, she hadn't slept yet either—"are you serious about this report?"

Lin Mo said, "I'm serious."

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.

Then Fang Lin laughed. "Do you know how much money this thing will cost?"

Lin Mo thought for a moment. "Preliminary estimate, at least one trillion."

"One trillion," Fang Lin repeated. "Do you know what one trillion represents?"

"I do. It's equivalent to one-twentieth of last year's national fiscal revenue."

Fang Lin fell silent again.

After a long while, she asked:

"Lin Mo, do you think it's worth it?"

Lin Mo didn't hesitate:

"It's worth it."

"Why?"

"Because this is the only way for humanity to leave Earth," Lin Mo said. "Rockets have been used for seventy years, and the cost has never come down. Without the ability to enter space at a low cost, all space dreams are just castles in the air. The space elevator is the only hope to break this bottleneck."

Fang Lin was silent for a long time.

Then she said:

"I've received the report. Tomorrow, I'll submit it to the higher-ups. But Lin Mo, you need to be mentally prepared—this project is too big. So big it might exceed many people's imaginations. Not everyone will be able to accept it."

Lin Mo nodded. "I know."

"And you're still persisting?"

"Persisting," Lin Mo said. "Three years ago, when the Nuclear Fusion project was approved, many people thought it was too big. But now, the power plant is already under construction."

Fang Lin smiled. "You really are..."

She paused, her voice softening:

"Alright. I'll pass it up for you. Whether it succeeds or not depends on fate."

After hanging up, Lin Mo stood by the window, looking at the night outside.

The starry sky over the Gobi Desert was as brilliant as ever.

That dark star was still twinkling low in the southeast sky.

He remembered the small line of text on the space elevator blueprints:

"When humanity possesses a heavenly ladder, the stars will no longer be far away."

Soon.

He said to himself.