The SpaceShaft !

A different type of Space Elevator!

Human access to Space by means of any type of Space Elevator must follow a number of prerequisites. In general these are;

  1. Economical,
  2. Safely,
  3. Re-usability,
  4. Multipurpose,
  5. etc.

In the mid of 2006, when I became aware of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, I started to look for other possible technological candidates than the Centrifugally Extended Carbon Nano Tube Tether Space Elevator (CECNTTSE).

By 2007 I had a clear idea of the problems and I had developed a solution that was less ambitious, but sufficiently plausible, as to eliminate the need of 1st Stage Rockets, the most expensive part of any Space Mission.

In December 2007, I  introduced the SpaceShaft at the 2nd Conference of the Euro Spaceward Foundation held in Luxembourg. Although, I listed the advantages (and disadvantages) of my explorations of the other incarnations of Space Elevators I was regarded as a lunatic.

Despite the above welcome to my ideas and proposals I decided to place on this web address some of my work (not all) because I thought that by placing such ideas in the public domain these would be inspirational to the public but also that they would not become patentable by 3rd parties, how wrong I was!

The SpaceShaft is the result of some maritime experience I gained in my professional life. So the reader of the following lines will meet the similarities of a SpaceShaft to what is commonly known as a Spar Platform.

Because of historical events regarding 3rd parties patenting my ideas I took down the original website and I left only a bare bones version of it.  Withness to what I am describing can be cross referenced with the (now defunct)   Science News   website/blog of Knight Science Journalism at MIT (see this hyperlink and others if you google SpaceShaft).

I believe that for a credible and practical Space Elevator to exist, we need to reason and see which choices, between an either purely based technology or a hybrid incarnation, are the best options.

I include here below a short number of Q&A that I believe will expand the notions that can be interpreted from a number of simulations found in youtube. See the following hyperlinks.

Q.1. What is a SpaceShaft?

A.1. Here follows a list of what is and what is not a SpaceShaft.

  • A SpaceShaft is an Atmospherically Buoyant Spar Platform Space Elevator (ABSPSE), which we can metaphorically compare it to a maritime spar platform or a spar buoy.
  • A SpaceShaft is not what we call a “Centrifugally Extended Carbon Nano Tube Tether Space Elevator” (CECNTTSE) [Which is, by popular assumption, generally known as “The” Space Elevator. However, we will be challenge this definition in following discussions],
  • A SpaceShaft is neither a “Space Tower” [3].


We shall later look in depth at the qualities of each of the three Space Elevator systems we have mentioned and evaluate their purposes, merits and how technologically compatible they are.

A number of other “general” questions follow. These are just a selected few from many.

Q.2. Is a SpaceShaft yet another crazy idea?

We believe it is not. However, after describing in detail the concept, what we truly want is to let you decide if an Atmospherically Buoyant Spar Platform Space Elevator (ABSPSE), otherwise known as a SpaceShaft, is an endeavor worth pursuing.

Q.3. Would a SpaceShaft be used as a method not only to safely and economically access Space [1] by the public but also to provide for the necessary infrastructure to support a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) [2] located within the Stratosphere?

Q.4. When considering its size, how would a SpaceShaft be built and operated?


Q.5. Is there enough Helium in our planet to maintain its stability and operations? How would the Helium be efficiently used, maximized and its cost maintained to a minimum?

Stay tuned! More to come …!