Chapter 105 104: From Hundreds of Millions to Hundreds
With the ground end of the space elevator's first cable secured, a spacecraft lifted off with a roar, pulling the other end of the cable as it began its ascent. It climbed all the way to an altitude of 45,000 kilometers above the surface of Ganymede.
The other end of this 45,000-kilometer-long cable extended to this altitude, stretched out almost completely straight.
The cable, with a diameter of about 7 centimeters and a length of 45,000 kilometers, seemed like it would be incredibly heavy—far too heavy for a medium-sized spacecraft to pull.
In reality, however, the total mass of such a long and thick cable was just over 170 tons, meaning the spacecraft could easily pull it into space.
Once the cable was pulled taut, a heavy freighter loaded with massive amounts of ballast approached at a speed exceeding Ganymede's escape velocity.
At that speed, it should have broken free of Ganymede's Gravity and flown off into deep space. But thanks to the additional thrust from its engines, it didn't fly away; instead, it was held firmly in place.
Soon, however, it would no longer need to burn extra fuel to maintain its position.
The reason was simple. Several Clones in Space Suits floated over and secured the space-end of the cable to the heavy freighter, which was loaded with ballast and had a total mass of 15,000 tons.
The freighter had already been fitted with a load-bearing frame to distribute the cable's tension evenly across its hull, preventing it from being torn apart.
Once the connection was complete, the heavy freighter's engines shut down. It lost the thrust that had been keeping it at such a high altitude yet stationary above Ganymede.
Driven by inertia, it began to drift away from Ganymede.
The slightly curved cable gradually straightened.
The moment it became perfectly straight, the immense tension from its anchor 10,000 meters within Ganymede's rock layers was transmitted through the cable, spanning the entire 45,000-kilometer distance to the heavy freighter.
Its outward drift came to an abrupt halt.
All 15,000 tons of mass were held firmly in place by a single cable, just 7 centimeters in diameter.
The cable was stretched perfectly taut.
Li Qingsong reviewed the data streaming in from the various sensors and nodded, satisfied.
Everything was proceeding as expected.
With the first cable in place, the rest of the work became much easier.
More cables poured out from 2,500 production lines. Each was anchored 10,000 meters deep in the rock strata, then braided with the existing cables before being connected to the heavy freighter at the terminus.
The space elevator's main cable began to thicken rapidly. At the same time, at the space terminus, even more ballast was attached, using the heavy freighter as an anchor point.
As long as it remained within the cable's stress limits, the heavier the counterweight at the space-end, the greater the centrifugal force, and thus the more cargo the elevator could transport.
In addition to the terminus, a station needed to be built at synchronous orbit.
In a synchronous orbit, an object's orbital angular velocity matches Ganymede's own rotational angular velocity. This allows the object to remain in a fixed position relative to a specific point on Ganymede's surface as it orbits.
From the ground, the object appears to be suspended motionless in the sky.
The orbital station would serve as a "port" in space. In the future, all cargo destined for Ganymede's surface, or leaving it, would be transshipped here.
Meanwhile, large-scale construction began at the ground-side terminus as well.
Docks, cranes, transfer facilities, power grids, and railway lines were all built one after another over the next two and a half years.
When the final cable was braided into the structure, bringing the total diameter to the planned 10 meters, Li Qingsong had the entire 45,000-kilometer length sheathed in special lightweight steel plates to shield it from external elements.
The ground-side base was now complete. At the same time, the development of the "climbers"—the vehicles that would ascend and descend the elevator—was also finished.
These climbers were semi-annular, or C-shaped. They had an inner diameter of 10 meters to fit snugly around the elevator cable, and an outer diameter of 20 meters. This gave each one a cargo floor area of approximately 110 square meters.
Each climber was five meters tall, with a total internal volume of 550 cubic meters, and could carry a maximum of 300 tons of cargo. For personnel transport, it could hold about 300 Clones, if comfort was not a priority.
When the main cable was constructed, Li Qingsong had already embedded power lines and electromagnetic coils within it. The climbers could thus use electromagnetic force to grip the cable and ascend or descend.
Its maximum speed was Mach 3, or about one kilometer per second. At this velocity, it would take only 12 hours to ascend from the surface to Ganymede's synchronous orbit, an altitude of roughly 43,000 kilometers.
At the orbital station, a climber would unload its cargo, which would then be ferried by spacecraft to other planets or stations. It would then begin its descent, carrying cargo that had arrived from elsewhere down from synchronous orbit to the surface of Ganymede.
And so, a full cargo exchange would be completed.
Under Li Qingsong's management, these climbers could depart as frequently as every two minutes. This allowed for 700 outbound and 700 inbound trips per day. Assuming an average load of 200 tons per trip, the space elevator could send 140,000 tons of cargo into space and receive another 140,000 tons on the surface daily—a total throughput of 280,000 tons!
Over a year, that amounted to just over 100 million tons!
In the past, moving 100 million tons of cargo would have required several thousand single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft shuttling constantly between the surface and space, busy day and night without a moment's rest.
The fuel consumption alone would amount to hundreds of millions of tons each year.
It was not only a massive drain on resources but also a logistical nightmare.
But now, with the completion of the space elevator, everything had changed.
The climbers ran on electricity. A single trip at full power consumed approximately 4 million kilowatt-hours.
With a total of 1,400 up and down trips per day, the total daily power consumption was nearly 6 billion kilowatt-hours.
To generate those 6 billion kilowatt-hours, given the efficiency of the nuclear fission plants under Li Qingsong's control, would require less than one ton of Uranium-235.
Although uranium mining was complex, the change from consuming hundreds of millions of tons of chemical fuel per year to just over three hundred tons of uranium was a night-and-day difference.
The space elevator was now in operation, running at full capacity from the very beginning.
On one side of the elevator, ascending climbers shot up the cable one after another like cannonballs, vanishing into space in an instant.
Simultaneously, from the unseen heights, other climbers descended at incredible speeds, arriving at the ground-side base.
A network of railway lines radiated from the ground-side base. Countless heavy-freight trains thundered in, fully loaded with cargo. After unloading, they were reloaded with new goods and departed, once again at full capacity.
At the orbital station, a similar scene played out as heavy freighters arrived and departed, always fully loaded.
This single space elevator had truly opened a superhighway for transport between the surface and space.