An Elevator to the Moon? Chennai Student Wins NASA Prize for Lunar Proposal
Sai Kiran's detailed proposal had everything from cost-effective analysis to the kind of recreational activities one would enjoy once on the Moon.
He wants to build an elevator that will take people from Earth to the Moon. And for that, an 18-year-old from Chennai has won second prize in the Grade 12 category in the prestigious in the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest, 2017.
Of course, it wasn’t as simple as writing a proposal to build an elevator that won this young man recognition. Sai Kiran P has been working on a detailed project since 2013 that envisions creating a link between Earth and the Moon that will allow for human settlements in the lunar surface.
The teenager felt that sending humans on rockets to the Moon would not be financially feasible, hence his proposal called for an elevator that would span a height of 40,000 km.
Additionally, he worked on various aspects of the settlement, including the lack of gravity, recreation, agriculture, governance and other daily aspects of life on the Moon.
Photo source: Pixabay
Sai Kiran, who studies in British International School, spoke to The Asian Age about his proposal noting, “The first segment of the project is about creating elevators that could transport humans and cargo to the Moon so that humans can form their settlements there. The most important aspect was that of gravity as without gravity, humans won’t be able to settle there.”
The NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest is a global contest conducted jointly by San Jose State University, the National Space Society (NSS) and the NASA Ames Research Center. The contest has asked students from across the world to send in their proposals on how human settlements can be achieved on the Moon. And it was Sai Kiran who walked away impressing them.
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