Skyscraper Anchored to Asteroid

[GreenJesus]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bridain.../#2d8a23a25194

The quest to cram ever more human beings into ever-decreasing square footage of city real estate continues – with a skyscraper suspended from an asteroid.

A New York architecture firm is proposing a design for the world’s tallest building Analemma Tower, which would hang down from the sky suspended by air cables attached to an asteroid.

“Analemma inverts the traditional diagram of an earth-based foundation, instead depending on a space-based supporting foundation from which the tower is suspended. This system is referred to as the Universal Orbital Support System (UOSS),” Clouds Architecture Office said in a statement.

“By placing a large asteroid into orbit over earth, a high strength cable can be lowered towards the surface of earth from which a super tall tower can be suspended. Since this new tower typology is suspended in the air, it can be constructed anywhere in the world and transported to its final location.”

This portability would allow the company to construct the tower in the sky over Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which the company says “has proven to be a specialist in tall building construction at one fifth the cost of New York City construction”. Clouds Architecture Office then plans to move the finished tower to New York.

Of course, living in a building like this would be quirky to say the least.

“Business is conducted at the lower end of the tower, while sleeping quarters are approximately 2/3 of the way up. Devotional activities are scattered along the highest reaches, while surface transfer points take advantage of high topography,” the company explains.

“The size and shape of windows changes with height to account for pressure and temperature differentials. The amount of daylight increases by 40 minutes at the top of the tower due to the curvature of the earth.”

Views out from various heights along the tower calibrated to the 24-hour orbital cycle. The size and shape of windows changes with height to account for pressure and temperature differentials. Credit: Clouds Architecture Office Clouds Architecture Office
Views out from various heights along the tower calibrated to the 24-hour orbital cycle. The size and shape of windows changes with height to account for pressure and temperature differentials. Credit: Clouds Architecture Office
The asteroid that Analemma Tower is connected to would be placed in a geosynchronous orbit that would describe a figure of eight over the Earth. The tower would be moving at its slowest speed at the top and the bottom of the figure eight orbit, allowing its inhabitants to interact with Earthlings at these points.

The slowest part of the entire trajectory would happen over New York and the whole trip would take 24 hours. The loop would also include passes over the south east coast of the US, Cuba, Ecuador and Peru.

The company believes the tower would more than recoup the astronomical costs for construction, given that it “taps into the desire for extreme height, seclusion and constant mobility”. Even the less-than-ideal conditions at the top of the tower might be appealing to a certain demographic.

“While researching atmospheric conditions for this project, we realized that there is probably a tangible height limit beyond which people would not tolerate living due to the extreme conditions. For example, while there may be a benefit to having 45 extra minutes of daylight at an elevation of 32,000 meters, the near vacuum and -40C temperature would prevent people from going outside without a protective suit,” the firm said.

“Then again, astronauts have continually occupied the space station for decades, so perhaps it’s not so bad?”

I don't think I would want to live there. It would drift across the entire planet, but I would have a 2 hour window for family or friends to visit. Not to mention what would happen during hurricane? We have millions of miles of open land, yet we have people that want to build a building in the sky?? okay.

[Gemini Soul]

Helicopter + plasma cutter = Ultrons plan to kill all of us meatbag's

[Independent voter]

That is a really cool idea. I guess you wouldn't want it to be so high that your guests would be oxygen deprived.

[Teleros]

I really hate it when some designer with zero common sense comes along like this.

Okay, first there's the whole situation with the weather. Lightning strikes, winds, cyclones or hurricanes if this thing's over the sea, all the rest.

Then there's transportation. 100mph+ lifts are going to be really really fun in that tower. And even then it'll take hours, if not days, to get anywhere. Oh, and by fun I mean murderous.

Not even going to think about what happens if your space elevator town gets severed. Whether it gets pulled off into space or crashes down to Earth, it'll be one hell of a spectacle if bad guys sabotage it or the builders skimp on proper materials. At least a regular space elevator wouldn't have many people aboard if it broke.

I'm sure there are many other problems, but I'll leave it at that for now :P .

[PC2]

The quest to cram ever more human beings into ever-decreasing square footage of city real estate continues – with a skyscraper suspended from an asteroid.

This authors point is way off. Even if every person on Earth lived in one vertical building, it wouldn't have that much effect on the true bottlenecks of civilization. Arable land, semi-local farming water, minerals, energy production.

[Underverse]

Probably one of the worst ideas I've ever heard.

[Afrospinach]

So, a space elevator. No one thought of those yet, obviously.

[Trassk]

This is the ultimate definition of hubris. In order for this to work, the asteroid would have to be high enough in space that it wouldn't crash down into the earth gravitational pull. There also assuming chains would support the weight of something that tall.

This is sci fi levels of thinking, and even if it were possible, it would be the world's most expensive deathtrap

[Deleted]

Oh, look, as space elevator, only less realistic.

[Trassk]

Let's also consider the fact an asteroid in order to remain in orbit around the earth needs to rotate around it at incredible speed, the moon for example moves over 2000 mph to rotate. Having a hanging skyscraper floating over earth, it would crash into mountains, aircrafts would plow into it, and the air friction would break it apart.

[derpkitteh]

this is possibly the stupidest idea i think i've ever heard.

that fucking building would be shooting around the earth. it'd be hitting into mountains, and birds would be entirely fucked. this is just fucking idiotic. what goddamned moron thought this shit up? jesus christ, ought to be embarrassed to even propose something like this.

[Deleted]

If you're low enough that there is breathable air "outside", your orbit is going to decay kind of quick, no?

[Deleted]

This idea screams :

[sonololo]

Let's also consider the fact an asteroid in order to remain in orbit around the earth needs to rotate around it at incredible speed, the moon for example moves over 2000 mph to rotate. Having a hanging skyscraper floating over earth, it would crash into mountains, aircrafts would plow into it, and the air friction would break it apart.

Specific quote from the article: "asteroid placed in eccentric geosynchronous orbit". It's a 42,164 km orbit that is stationary for any given point on surface.

Though, the idea is a shite, it's more feasible to build just a space elevator, not the skyscraper with living/office space.

[Endus]

There's an even simpler reason this can't work, folks.

Air resistance.

Air resistance is going to slow this thing down constantly, for the same reason you feel a push when you put your hand out a car window. So to get around that, you'd need some massive engines maintaining a constant thrust level, or it slows down or gets pulled out of alignment and crashes. That's just not feasible.

If the idea were a modified partial space elevator, where you had an enormous ground-based tower that had cable ties to an asteroid that was high enough up, relying on centripetal force to "pull" the skyscraper upward to help it remain standing despite the impacts of the wind forces on the building. With enough cables and regular maintenance (even if you don't take it to proper space elevator status, the cables could easily be "ridden" up by vertical cable cars to shuttle maintenance staff around), it would be relatively safe. But we're nowhere close to the point of needing that, in terms of the value of maximizing real estate. The only reason to do that is as a first-step to building that full space elevator; if you start with the cabling and the anchor-asteroid, building up around that is probably the easiest way to engineer the full structure.

But this thing, hanging from the asteroid? If it's geosynchronous, then the asteroid's not stable; any shifts in weight will either pull it down or see it rise. If it isn't (as proposed), air resistance kills it. It's just not workable. Space elevators only work, physically, because they extend far enough into orbit that centripetal force can overcome gravitational pull.

[derpkitteh]

If you're low enough that there is breathable air "outside", your orbit is going to decay kind of quick, no?

this person thinks the asteroid is going to magically float above the planet. they don't understand that in order to orbit the planet, it must be spinning around it at mach speeds.

if you stepped outside of the building, you'd fly off the balcony. the inertia would keep you pinned the wall and probably kill everyone in it in the first place, and then it'd also probably smack straight into a mountain anyway and kill anyone that survived the movement.

it's the most braindead thing i have heard since flat earth.

[Teebone]

I thought the City of Columbia was a myth.

[sonololo]

this person thinks the asteroid is going to magically float above the planet. they don't understand that in order to orbit the planet, it must be spinning around it at mach speeds.

Did you even heard about geostationary orbit?

[Teebone]

this person thinks the asteroid is going to magically float above the planet. they don't understand that in order to orbit the planet, it must be spinning around it at mach speeds.

if you stepped outside of the building, you'd fly off the balcony. the inertia would keep you pinned the wall and probably kill everyone in it in the first place, and then it'd also probably smack straight into a mountain anyway and kill anyone that survived the movement.

it's the most braindead thing i have heard since flat earth.

Have you actually SEEN Trump's budget plan? There are dumber things out there than a complete lack of understanding physics =)

[draynay]

Wouldn't it be a groundscraper?