Thothx

The US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent to Canadian space company Thoth Technology for its proposed space elevator, which is designed to take astronauts into the stratosphere, and to launch rockets.

Named ThothX Tower, the free-standing building would reach 20km above the earth and be 20 times higher than the tallest existing structures.

If ever built, the technology would help reduce the costs of transporting cargo and people into space.

Inventor Brendan Quine said: "Astronauts would ascend to 20km by electrical elevator.

"Landing at 12 miles above sea level will make space flight more like taking a passenger jet."

"From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refuelling and re-flight."

Believed to be cheaper alternative to launching heavy rockets, space elevators have the potential to transform the access to space.

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The technology incorporates reusable hardware, and is claimed to save more than 30% of the fuel used by a conventional rocket.

Thoth president and CEO Caroline Roberts said that the ThothX tower, along with proposed self-landing rocket technologies, will herald a new era of space transportation.

Roberts said: "Landing on a barge at sea level is a great demonstration, but landing at 12 miles above sea level will make space flight more like taking a passenger jet."

US-based SpaceX is working on self-landing rockets and has so far trialled several attempts to recover its Falcon 9 rocket, on a sea barge.

Image: An artistic impression of Thoth Technology’s proposed space elevator. Photo: courtesy of Thoth Technology.