Acquisition

Comments

Full Moon - Showing location of Crater  Alpetragius - Location 16 Degrees South and 4.5 Degrees West .

Phil Ragan, Co Author of the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator" has made the following comments as background for Alpetragius.

1). It is close to the apparent "centre" of the moon when viewed from earth and thus, when we suspend a cable from Alpetragius in the direction of earth (though not reaching it) it is falling down the gravity well to Earth with no significant distortions.

2). It has an unusually large cone mountain in the centre of the crater. The intent is to tunnel into the cone and turn it into an underground base and eventually (as in 50 years) a city.  

 3). The carbon nanofiber cable that we are developing is to have a tensile strength of a least x 150 compared with steel. The crater itself is small enough at 39km diameter to cover the entire crater with a cable net that supports a nanofiber woven roof (think of an upside down umbrella and you're close) so that eventually we may be able to pump sufficient air into the crater to make it habitable. (Bear in mind we might be talking about a century of development here !)

More info can be found  @ http://www.leavingtheplanet.com/index.php