Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences assessed the prospects for the construction of the Tsiolkovsky space elevator

The creation of a space elevator proposed by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky remains an extremely difficult and unrealistic task at the current stage of technology development. This was announced on April 9 by Academician Anatoly Petrukovich, Director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"The idea is quite popular. The problem of delivering cargo into orbit is one of the key issues in space technology. After all, this is a very expensive operation, both in terms of resources and financially. But a space elevator is an extremely complex structure, and we still don't understand how to implement it," he said in an interview with the industrial media Documentary Cinema.

At the same time, according to him, for the implementation of such a project, materials with special characteristics are needed, which have not yet been created. In addition, issues related to the deployment of the structure and the connection of the Earth's surface to the orbital station at an altitude of about 400 km remain unresolved.

According to him, the concept is being actively discussed, but the implementation of such a project requires the use of materials with unique characteristics that have not yet been developed. Petrukovich also pointed out that Japan's forecasts about the possible construction of a space elevator by 2050 do not have sufficient grounds.

Speaking about Tsiolkovsky's other ideas, the academician noted that the concept of ring-shaped orbital stations may be promising, but its implementation is limited by technical capabilities, in particular, the size of rockets. He added that assumptions about the existence of other civilizations remain at the level of philosophical reasoning, since there is no scientific evidence for this yet.

The premiere of the documentary film "Tsiolkovsky" will take place on Sunday, April 12, at 23:55 on the REN TV channel. A new scientific detective story from the NMH DOK cycle "The Great Ones" is dedicated to the mysteries of the legendary Russian scientist Tsiolkovsky and his ability to predict the technological future of mankind for centuries to come.

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All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.