First, a Space Elevator is not in orbit. It is attached to the Earth, along the equator. It is held upright by the balance of gravitational, centripetal and centrifugal forces; forces generated by the Earth’s rotation spinning a counterweight at the upper end of a 100,000 kilometer long tether. These forces are familiar to all of us; at least those of us who ever swung a ball at the end of a string. We call the counterweight the “Apex Anchor”, the equatorial attachment is called the Earth Port, and we are very interested in the Elevator’s geosynchronous altitude; which we call the GEO Region.

The International Space Elevator Consortium (“ISEC”) is made up of organizations and individuals from around the world and has the mission to promote space elevator development. ISEC’s vision is to have a world with inexpensive, safe, routine, environmentally friendly and efficient access to space for the benefit of all.

 In engineering terms, The Galactic Harbour is the merged Architecture of the Space Elevator Transportation System and the Space Elevator Enterprise System. In simpler terms the Galactic Harbour is like any harbor that connects land and water transport; but the Galactic Harbour serves as the transportation nexus between Earth and space.

The Space Elevator Transportation System is the “main channel” of the Galactic Harbour. This transportation core supports the enterprises that will emerge within the Harbour’s “GEO Region”; and supports the Interplanetary flights that will arrive and depart from the Harbour’s APEX Region.

The vision is to have a space transportation infrastructure that is inexpensive, safe, routine, environmentally friendly, daily, and a permanent architecture with massive cargo movement capability to space and interplanetary destinations. The Galactic Harbour projects that vision.

The story here is still being written. The space transportation infrastructure around the Earth is taking shape. Construction will begin soon. Just a few years ago, this was a story with the citation that needed technologies were coming soon; a technology push. WE said, “Let’s do it, because we can”. Humankind has things to do, places to explore, and much more. The story has now changed to one of missions to be accomplished and environments to be preserved. Now we say, “Let’s do it because we must.”

The Space Elevator Enterprise System is the entrepreneurial thrust of the Galactic Harbour. The enterprises are envisioned to locate within the “GEO Region”. Solar Power will be collected there; satellites will be repaired and refueled; large space craft and large facilities will be assembled; and the Interplanetary flights that will arrive and depart from the APEX will generate a range of flight support enterprises.

In the same manner that a variety of transportation systems on Earth service a variety of transportation needs, trucks, trains, planes, and ships; the Space Elevator serves as a clear complement and supplement to booster based flight systems.

The fundamental purposes of the Earth Port are:
-Attach the Space Elevator’s Tether to the Earth, at the Earth Port’s Tether Termini (TT’s)
-Manage the movement of the Tether. Position adjustments by the TT’s Reel In / Reel Out mechanisms ae needed to manage the Tether in the face of external forces; e.g. wind, rain, and operations dynamics in the atmosphere, and other forces above the atmosphere.

Yes. The engineering of the FOP’s structure relates directly to “semi-submersible” approaches used in a variety of maritime off-shore structures. The crew quarters match very well to the passenger quarters of today’s cruise ships. The operations control decks will be an upgrade from today’s space operations centers and air traffic control centers. The flight operations deck will be based on the engineering of aircraft carriers and marine helicopter operations. The cargo receipt area on the lower level will be based on clean room approaches used by today’s space craft assembly factories.

No. Tether Termini’s should be at sea for movement management.

Space Debris mitigation will be an operational responsibility of the Space Elevator Transportation System’s Primary Operations Center located on the 4th and 5th decks of the FOP. Debris mitigation actions will be coordinated with the Space Force’s Consolidated Space Operations Center which has overall debris mitigation responsibility for the United States. The Debris Mitigation system is in early development and will be operational before the Space Elevator transportation systems become operational.

The basic requirement of the tether is to be strong enough to hold up the tether itself and at least fourteen Space Elevator Climbers which will weigh about 20 tons; including 14 tons of cargo. The operating requirements are being developed, and will include reliability, repairability, and positive control techniques so that it works within the constraints of the overall transportation system. The Tether will most likely be composed of a special derivative of graphene; produced in sheets of single molecule thickness. The Tether will be composed of a few layers of the graphene sheets.

Galactic Harbour Associates, Inc. (GHA) is the first of a number of industry members who will work together to build and operate the Space Elevator Transportation System. GHA will focus on the Earth Port Segment; designing it, building it, and testing it. The Earth Port will play an important role supporting test activities of other segments of the Space Elevator.

The Galactic Harbour is a key entry point for delivery of cargo to space. Cargo destined to the GEO Region, the Apex Region, or to interplanetary destinations will go through the Galactic Harbour. The currently structured world-wide transportation system can support Galactic Harbour operations. The cargo destined to space will be delivered to the Galactic Harbour and its Access City. Eventually, perhaps even soon, there will be a few Galactic Harbours around the world.

The GEO Region is a special place in our universe. Generally, things released from the Elevator depart; quickly. If released (properly) in the GEO Region, things do not depart. They stay near geosynchronous altitude and near the elevator; orbiting around a reference point on the geosynchronous belt. The Space Elevator Enterprise System intends to take advantage of this phenomena. Factories, satellite repairing, satellite refueling, solar power collection, raw material processing, large space craft assembly, and all sorts of other Enterprises will be established “near” the Elevator. The cited activities will all be conducted within a mere 200 or 300 kilometers of geosynchronous center point of the GEO Region. The GEO Region is probably 250 kilometers wide.

The Apex Region is the departure point for interplanetary flights. These flights do not require (much) rocket thrust. Instead the flights will use the latent velocity – “ΔV”, (derived from Earth’s rotation – transformed into radial speed at departure from the Apex). We see immense cargo craft (originally assembled in the Geo Region) moving from the Apex; bringing supplies and equipment to destinations in the Solar System. Eventually, cargo craft will return to the Apex with raw materials for processing in the GEO Regions.