- Yuri Artsutanov
Yuri N. Artsutanov (1929-) is a
Russia nengineer born in Leningrad. A graduate of Leningrad Technological Institute, he is best known for being one of the pioneers of the idea ofspace elevator (type of skyhook).In 1960 he wrote an article "V Kosmos na Electrovoze (en. "Into space with the help of an electric locomotive")", where he discussed the concept of the space elevator as an economic, safe and convenient way to access
orbit and facilitatespace exploration .Artsutanov developed the idea from works of
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky , who in 1895 proposed an idea of building an "orbital tower". Artsutanov's concept was based on the linking of geosynchronous satellites to the ground with a cable. He suggested using thesatellite as the base from which to construct the tower since a geosynchronous satellite will remain over a fixed point on the equator. [ [http://www.navworld.com/newsletters/issue5.htm The Navigator Quarterly News Letter (September 2002)] ] By using acounterweight , a cable would be lowered from thegeosynchronous orbit to the surface ofEarth while the counterweight was extended from the satellite away from Earth, keeping the center of mass of the cable motionless relative to Earth. Note that the ideas of the tower and the elevator differ since the tower is a compression structure, while the elevator is an orbiting tension structure, much easier to build and maintain.References
* Artsutanov, Yuri; "V Kosmos na Electrovoze";
Komsomolskaya Pravda , July 31, 1960See also
*
Arthur C. Clarke External links
* [http://www.robotstore.com/download/Artsutanov_Pravda_SE.pdf Into space with the help of an electric locomotive - Artsutanov article translated into English]
* [http://www.spaceward.org/elevator-howClose Spacward.org Website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
