An 18-year-old boy from Chennai has got second position in the grade 12 category of the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest, 2017. Sai Kiran P got second position for proposing an elevator from the earth to the moon to make a human settlement possible on the latter.
NASA Ames Research Center, the National Space Society (NSS), and San Jose State University organize this contest every year. The contest invited students around the world, only up to 12th grade, to send their proposals for making human settlements possible on the Moon.
Sai had started working on this project back in 2013. At that time, he was living in Singapore. In March 2016, he moved to Chennai and started writing a detailed thesis on the subject.
His proposal, titled ‘Connecting Moon, Earth and Space’ and ‘HUMEIU Space Habitats’ suggested making an elevator, about 40,000 km high, for transporting humans to moon. He According to him, the most vital part of this proposal is centripetal acceleration. The proposal also suggests setting up entertainment and recreational facilities on the Moon.
“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 Asian Age report quotes Sai Kiran.
His thesis also mentions the high costs associated with using rockets to send humans to the Moon.
“Since it is not economically viable, the only other way is to have faultless elevators connecting the Earth to the Moon, which will span a height of 40,000kms,” he added.
Sai Kiran is currently a student of the British International School.
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