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Our Science
Reconstruction Usea

Picture

August 21, 2018


The equatorial Usean city of Selatapura. Offshore, a titanic tower reaches up to pierce the heavens. The cable which extends from its terminus disappears into the morning light, leading on to the lands of the stars so remote. It is the space elevator: humanity’s first full scale attempt at a highway to space. The unprecedented megastructure is nearing completion.

A symbol of the continent’s reconstruction

6 AM. Ferries depart from the harbor of Selatapura where the morning clamor begins to rise. It’s a 30 minute journey to the man-made island of Earthport. The ocean-spanning bridge under construction passes to the side.

Riding with me are migrant workers who have gathered from across all Usea. Myriad languages mix with the scent of coffee on the sea breeze across the bow. This is a trading port, so the container ship traffic is voluminous. Beyond it can be seen the shape of the titanic tower.

The rising sun illuminates the contours of the tower. Those lines stretch down to the surface of the earth from the pinnacle’s height of 12,000 meters, and gradually draw out an arc, blending into the horizon like the base of a mountain. I gasp at its greatness.

What overwhelming mass. To think that humans built this.

The patrol boats and oil tankers at the pier seem tiny. Our ferry is unmanned, but if it were, the pilot would need a rangefinder for sure. The men I met upon the boat wave me on, dumbstruck as I am.

“They work hard. It goes very quickly; a world of difference from my own country where the elderly toil.” The director of the ISEV construction technology research institute Dr. Blüman who traveled alongside me waves again and smiles. The site uses a four-man three-shift system, and construction continues 24 hours a day.

Exiting the breakwater and nearing the island, one begins to see a resort area ringing the circumference. If one lies down on the lawn, one may see all the way up to the peak. We carefully navigate around the gantry cranes lined up beside the container ships and slow. We arrive at the pier.

Passing through the island ingress management gate from the arrival floor and raising my head, I come to face six massive legs which spread from the heaven-piercing elevator shaft. I feel like I’m about to be sucked up into space.

Through the steady advancement of science and technology, we have come down a long path to a tremendous accomplishment. In this there can be no doubt. However, the giant tower at which we’ve arrived did not exist until just a few years ago.

Like many places in Usea, a mere 19 years ago this place suffered devastation from the fall of the asteroid. Fragments of Ulysses fell upon the ocean, and the ensuing tidal waves annihilated the coastal areas of Selatapura. 30,000 were killed. They were further impoverished by the war which resulted from the refugee crisis, the reconstruction of the continent did not progress like it was expected.

How then did such rapid reconstruction come about in the face of that adversity? We may thank a national strategy adopted with the aim of establishing nations as technological and scientific powers with independence from suzerainty and foreign capital.

Made in Usea

The central lobby, where sparks from welding fall. The interior work which will greet passengers is progressing at a fever pitch. The young site director Yao speaking with Dr. Blüman has an Erusean accent. Until 12 years ago when he was in middle school, this area was Erusean. The doctor explains measures to prevent bad wiring in Erusean, and turns his back.

Humans are used where high skill is required and as insurance against problems, while material handling and ceiling and other aerial work is undertaken by construction robots. As opposed to the manufacturing industry, it’s impossible to completely automate such an unforgiving thing as a construction site.

As many as 1,000 people take part in each shift at the vast Earthport construction site. They come from across Usea with short term work permits as temporary workers. They take two weeks of VR education here, work for two months, and return to their own countries with knowledge of state of the art construction techniques and a decent salary. Over 100,000 Useans have taken part in the construction of this facility alone, and their experience reflects the reconstruction across Usea at large. The international space elevator corporation, “ISEV,” is the group which spearheads the administration of this joint international project. It was founded in 2011 under the hand of the previous administration in Osea. The initial capital and technology was Osea’s contribution, but providing for specialized technology and labor was basically up to Usea. Osea believed that merely spreading money through the disaster area would not constitute reconstruction.

The Continental Nations’ Economic Alliance, which was victorious in the Continental War and concluded a peace treaty with the former Erusean Republic, unified the countries of Usea with the FCU at its core. However, the military alliance of ISAF was dissolved, and the refugee crisis has relapsed ever since peacekeeping functions were turned over to the IUN. On top of that problem was laid an energy crisis relating to the reopening of power stations across the land, and with the weakening of the forces that bound them together, nations began to drop out of the Alliance one after the other.

Meanwhile, the great powers which passed through the Circum-Pacific War enjoyed prosperity. Yuktobania’s revenues increased with the expansion of its commodity trading partners and the diversification of its shipbuilding, and Osea enjoyed unrivaled success in information technology, financial services, arms, and space development. The need for reconstruction policies to fill in the widening international gap became evident. This is why Osea christened the space elevator as “Made in Usea.”

They key to it all was space solar power generation, which would use the sun as a source of unlimited free energy. In geosynchronous orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator are being constructed solar power generation satellites. These satellites collect sunlight to generate power, and transmit this power to terrestrial rectennae (the antennae of receiving facilities). With this, the continent of Usea aims to have a fair and sustainable supply of energy.

Selatapura was named as a candidate for the construction site of Earthport as a base. On the ocean near the equator, with easy access as a free trade port, and the only free state which was not ceded by the Erusean Republic, it's a place of geopolitical importance where people and business from around the world gathered due to the investments of multinational corporations. Selatapura, drinking in all these things, grew with rapid momentum. Osea couldn’t refuse.

“Erusea declined, of course. But an atmosphere of wanting to press on into the future was already dominant among us.” In Spring 2012, the institute of technology which Yao and his associates attended shared a construction roadmap and 12 month syllabus through the ISEV, and scholars from Osea and North Point were dispatched. Dr. Blüman was invited as a lecturer at this time as well.

However, due to the immense size of the space elevator, it would become a favorite target for terrorism. Accordingly, an increase in peacekeeping force garrisons and new defense systems were announced. Opposition activity by Erusean citizens in response increased, but the postwar provisional Erusean government did not have the right to resist any of these things, and they had no choice but to think long and hard about the very state of their nation.

Mankind’s Largest Structure

Earthport is a requirement of the earth and space-spanning space elevator. It’s a terrestrial base for the transportation of humans and matériel, from which climbers depart for space. To sum it up, the elevator’s structures are many, and the scope of their construction is vast. Roughly speaking, those are the ascent/descent cables, the climbers, the ground facilities, and the space facilities. Various services will lag, but from the completion and start of service of the space station in geosynchronous orbit, the total construction time will extend to 70 months. I should say, a mere 70 months.

The first cable transportation rocket was launched from Comona in January 2013. Using a laser beam emitted from the ground, the construction ship constructed in LEO (Low Earth Orbit) circled the earth while rising under MPD (Magneto Plasmo Dynamic) propulsion. By May, it had reached GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit). After that, the spacecraft, now circling at the same speed as the rotation of the earth, began to extend a cable – both towards the ground and out towards space – while continuing to rise.

In September of that year, the earth end of the cable arrived, and Earthport base was established. On one end, with the spacecraft at 96,000km altitude as a counterweight, and the basic shape of the space elevator was complete. However, at this stage, the load bearing capacity of the single cable was a mere 500kipf, and could not bear even a single car. From there, reinforcement work began by attaching reinforcement cables to gradually increase its carrying capabilities.

“The speed of construction affected the construction rate of the entire project, so we really had to put on our thinking caps.” The doctor’s idea was thus. First, to gather and fasten not the two cables needed for the elevation but six, and while raising them reinforce all at the same time. The first climber released the second unit when it had attained 12,000 kilometers. Little by little the climbers multiplied, using themselves as counterweights at the upper end. Repeating this, a maximum of 24 climbers were put into operation at the same time, and carrying capacity increased at an accelerated rate. At the end of 5 years, climbers up to 100 tons became practical. Previously, the space station in geosynchronous orbit began test operations, and preparations for three passenger climbers began.

I’m presently headed to the climber terminal to see an elevation test for myself. The giant elevator shaft at the center of the facility is covered by a disaster prevention shield to protect the climbers from wind and attacks from the outside. Facing the glass window on the terminal level, a massive white climber emerged from underground. As it is under construction, we wear a pressure suit for safety. I already feel like an astronaut.

“Let’s head up.” I could see the white teeth of the doctor and Yao helmeted. The climber door shut, and we began slowly to rise. This will be a test to measure the pressure differential generated by the passing of three climbers within the shaft, so regrettably we will not go to space today. Nonetheless the main shaft is the tallest structure of any kind on earth, and the largest ever made by man.

We began to climb at a comfortable rate at the time of departure, but nonetheless the ground drew away, and after we attained a speed of 200km/h, we were moving along smoothly without accelerating further. We passed a climber as we pierced the cloud, and a bit later we passed another. We certainly shook a bit from the change in pressure, but the interior stabilized soon enough.

Gradually our speed slowed, and we stopped at the upper part of the tower. Looking straight up, the six cables seem to disappear into the deep blue sky. “Look to the side. This is our favorite landscape.” What Yao was pointing at with his outstretched finger was the sky at 12,000 meters. I could see the curvature of the earth beneath the clouds. The whole of faraway Selatapura could be taken in at once, and the sun dazzled. This is the view of a high altitude plane.

“Right below us used to be a crater. We’ve come a pretty long way from down there.”

This isn’t a story of the far future. We’ve brought this into being in our own time with our own strength of will. In the doctor’s smile was the shape of a man who has accomplished something. We’ve built roads and highways to lands once unknown. They are neither things which were there from the start nor things which came about in an instant. They’re something our ancestors thought about, and then made through action. Doing so, we found we’d come across whole new fields of activity and previously unseen perspectives. The space elevator directs this upwards. What new perspectives will this bring humanity? It’s becoming clearer by the day.

Original Text

ユージア大陸赤道に位置する港湾都市セラタプラ。その沖合いに天空を貫く巨塔がそびえ立つ。塔の先から伸びるケーブルは夜明け前の空に消え、さらに遥か遠い星々の世界へ通ずる。人類が初めて本格的な運用を目指す宇 宙往還システム「軌道エレベータ」。かつてないメガストラクチャーはまもなく完成する。

大陸復興の象徴

午前6時。朝の喧噪あふれるセラタプラ港から定期船が離岸する。洋上の人工島「アースポート」へは30分ほどの航行だ。建設中の海上橋を横目に進む。

同乗の人々はユージア大陸全土から集まった出稼ぎ労働者達。多様な言語と海風に混じったコーヒーの香りが船首から広がる。貿易港ならではのおびただしいコンテナ船の往来。その向こうに巨大な塔が姿を現す。

朝日が昇るにつれ塔の輪郭が明らかになっていく。そのラインは高度12000mの塔頂からまっすぐに地面へ向かい、徐々に弧を描いて山裾の様に水平線へ繋がる。その偉容に息をのむ。

圧倒的な大きさだ。人間はこんなものを作ったのだ。

接岸する巡視船や石油タンカーなどは小舟に見える。我々のフェリーは無人運航だが、もし有人であれば距離計が必須だろう。呆然とする私に行き会い船の男たちが手を振ってくる。

「彼らはよく働く。仕事も早いし、高齢者が汗する我が国とはえらい違いだ」。同行したISEV工法技術研究所所長ブルーマン博士は手を振り返しながら笑う。現場は四組三交代制でシフトされ、24時間の建設が続いているという。

島に近づいて防波堤を抜けると、外周を覆うように広がるリゾートエリアが見えてくる。芝生に寝ころべば塔頂まで見通せる特等席だ。船はコンテナふ頭に並ぶガントリークレーンをゆっくりと迂回して減速。桟橋にたどり着く。

到着フロアから入島管理ゲートを通って見上げると、天に伸びるエレベータシャフトを支える6本の巨大な脚部が出迎える。まるで我々を宇宙へ吸い込むかのようだ。

科学技術の進歩は少しずつ着実に行われ、長い道のりを経てやがて大きな成果をあげる。その事に間違いは無い。しかし今我々が居る巨大な塔は、ほんの数年前まで存在しなかった。

しかも19年前には他のユージア各地と同じく、この場所も小惑星落下による被害を受けている。ユリシーズの欠片は海面に落着し、発生した津波によってセラタプラ沿岸部の都市は壊滅。3万人もの犠牲者が出た。さらには難民問題に起因する戦争からの疲弊で、大陸の復興は思うように進まなかった。

いかにしてその逆境からここまでの急速な復興を遂げたのか。そこには「科学技術立国」を目指し、宗主国からの独立と外国資本によるユージア復興計画を取り入れた明敏な国家戦略がある。

メード・イン・ユージア

溶接の火花散る中央ロビー。旅客者を迎え入れるための内装工事が急ピッチで進められている。ブルーマン博士と話す若い現場監督ヤオはエルジア訛りだ。彼が中学生だった12年前まで、ここはエルジア領だった。博士は配線ミスの対策方法についてエルジア語で説明し、背中をたたく。

高い技量を要する施工箇所やトラブルの対策を人間が集中的に行い、資材運搬や天井などの高所作業は建設ロボットが行っている。製造業とは異なり、厳しい作業現場を全て自動化することは不可能だからだ。

広大なアースポートの建設現場では各シフトに1万人ほどが従事している。ユージア各地から短期就労ビザで受け入れられた派遣労働者たちだ。彼らはここで2週間のVR教育を受け、2か月間働き、最先端の建築施工技術の知見と割の良い給料を受け取って本国に帰る。この施設だけで延べ100万人のユージア人が建設に携わることになり、彼らの経験はユージア各地での復興に反映されていく。

国際軌道エレベータ公社"ISEV"は、その国際共同事業の陣頭指揮を執り行う団体だ。オーシア連邦前政権の肝いりで、2011年に設立された。初期投資と基礎技術の供与はオーシア政府が担うものの、専門分野の研究や労働人材の確保は基本的にユージア内部で行う。これは被災地にカネだけばらまいているだけではもはや復興支援にならないというオーシアの思惑もある。

大陸戦争に勝利した大陸諸国間経済同盟は、旧エルジア共和国との講和条約締結後もFCUを中心としてユージア各国を束ねていた。しかし軍事同盟であったISAFが発展的解散し、平和維持機能を国連に引き継いだ頃から難民問題が再燃。各地での発電所再稼働に関連するエネルギー問題も折り重なり、求心力低下により同盟国の離脱が相次いだ。
その間、環太平洋戦争を経た大国の両雄は繁栄を謳歌する。ユークトバニアは一次産品の貿易相手国拡大や造船産業の多角化によって歳入を増やし、オーシアは情報通信、金融サービス、軍需、そして宇宙開発といった分野で他の追随を許さない成功を収めた。

広がるばかりの国家間格差を埋めるには復興を超えた施策が必要なことは明らかだ。だからこそオーシアは軌道エレベータをメード・イン・ユージアとしたかった。

手掛かりとしたのは究極の自然エネルギーとされる太陽を利用した、”宇宙太陽光発電”だ。赤道上空高度36000kmの静止軌道に太陽光発電衛星を建造。衛星は太陽光を集めて発電し、そのエネルギーをマイクロ波で地上のレクテナ(受電施設のアンテナ)へ送って利用する。これによりユージア大陸全土への公平かつ恒久的なエネルギー資源の供給を図る。

その基地となるアースポートの建設候補地にはセラタプラが名乗りをあげた。赤道付近の海に接し、自由貿易港として出入りしやすく、旧エルジア共和国からの割譲ではない唯一の独立国家。地政学的にも申し分なく、多国籍企業体の資本投下により世界中の人とビジネスが集まっていたセラタプラは、それらを飲み込んで急速な勢いで成長しつつあった。それをオーシアが断わるわけがなかった。

「エルジアは当然反対しましたよ。でも僕らはもう新しいことに挑戦すべきだって空気が支配的だった」。2012年春、ヤオ達が通う工科大学ではISEVによる施工ロードマップと12か月分のシラバスが共有され、オーシアやノースポイントから教育者が派遣された。ブルーマン博士もこの時に講師として招かれた。

また軌道エレベータは巨大であるが故、テロリストの格好の標的となる。このことをふまえ、平和維持軍の駐留拠点増や新たな防衛機能の整備計画も公表された。これを機にエルジアでは市民による反対運動が激化したが、講和後の暫定自治時代のエルジア政府はそれらを拒否する権利はなく、自国そのもののあり方を見定める他なかった。

人類最大の建造物

アースポートは地球と宇宙を結ぶ軌道エレベータの要だ。地上における人や資材の搬送基地であり、それらを宇宙へ搬送するクライマーの発着を行う。軌道エレベータと一口に言っても関連する構造物は多く、その施工対象は広い。大別して「昇降用ケーブル」、「クライマー」、「地上施設」、そして「宇宙施設」だ。それぞれの供用時期に時間差はあるが、静止軌道宇宙ステーションの供用開始をもって完成となり、全工期は70か月に及ぶ。いや、たった70か月である。

最初のケーブル運搬ロケットがコモナ宇宙基地から打ち上げられたのは2013年1月。LEO(Low Earth Orbit:低軌道)で建造された建設用宇宙船は地上から照射されるレーザービームを受け、MPD(Magneto Plasma Dynamic)推進で地球を周回しながら上昇。5月にGEO(Geostationary Earth Orbit:静止軌道)へ到達する。その後地球の自転と同じ回転速度で周回を開始した宇宙船は、片方を地球、もう片方を宇宙に向けて同時にケーブルを繰り出しながら上昇を続ける。

同年9月、地球側のケーブルが地上に到着し、アースポート基部に定着される。一方、高度96,000kmに達した宇宙船はカウンターウェイトとなり、軌道エレベータの基本形が完成する。しかし、この段階ではケーブル一本あたりの支持力は500kpfと弱く、車一台も持ち上がらない。そこで、補強ケーブルを貼りつけて徐々に支持能力を高めていく補強工事を行う。

「この施工速度が全体の工期に影響するから、我々は存分に頭をひねった」。博士のアイデアはこうだ。まずクライマーは昇降に必要な2本だけではなく、6本あるケーブルを冶具でまとめて掴み、上昇しながら全て同時に補強していく。最初のクライマーが12,000kmに到達した時点で2台目を出発。少しずつクライマーを増やしていき、クライマー自体を上端でカウンターウェイトとする。これを繰り返して最大で24台のクライマーを同時に稼働させ、加速度的に支持能力を高めていく。これを5年かけて行い、最終的に100トン仕様のクライマーの実用が可能になった。既に上空では静止軌道ステーションが試験運用を開始し、3機の旅客用クライマーが稼働準備を進めている。

実際に昇降試験を見せてもらう事となり、クライマー発着場へ向かう。施設中央の巨大なエレベータシャフトは風や外敵からクライマーを守るため、防災シールドでカバーされている。乗降フロアのガラス窓の向こうには、白く大きな宇宙船の様なクライマーが地下からせり出してきた。工事中のため、我々も安全用の与圧服を身に着ける。気分はもう宇宙飛行士だ。

「上へ参りましょう」。ヘルメットを被った博士とヤオの白い歯が見える。クライマーの扉がしまり、ゆっくりと上昇し始めた。今回はシャフト内に三機あるクライマー同士のすれ違いによって発生する気圧変動の測定なので、残念だが宇宙にまではいけない。それでもメインシャフトは世界中のどんな建物よりも高い、人類最大の建造物だ。

出発時は快適な速度で登り始めたが、それでもぐんぐんと地面が遠ざかって時速200kmに達した後は加速度もかからずに快適な移動になった。雲を突き抜けたあたりで他のクライマーとすれ違い、またすぐもう一機とすれ違った。気圧変化で確かに少し揺れたが、客室内はすぐに安定した。
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徐々に速度が下がり、塔最上部で停止する。真上を見ると、6本のケーブルが青黒い空に消えていくのみだ。「横を見てください。僕たちの大好きな風景です」。ヤオが指さした先に広がるのは高度12000mの空。雲を眼下に、地球の丸みがわかる。遠くのセラタプラの市街地が一望でき、そして太陽は眩しい。大気が薄い航空機の視点だ。

「私らの真下は昔クレーターだったんです。そこからだいぶ高いところまできましたね」。

遠い未来の話ではない。我々の世代で必ず完成させるという強い意志がこれを実現した。博士の笑顔にはやり遂げた男の姿があった。
我々はかつて未開の地へ道路や線路を作りあげてきた。それらは初めからあった物でも突然できた物でも無い。我々の祖先が考え、行動してできたものだ。そうして新たな活動領域とそれまでになかった視点を得てきた。軌道エレベータはそれを上へと向ける。これによって人類はどの様な新たな視点を持つことができるようになるのか。それはもうすぐ明らかになる。
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