Elevator to space

An interesting article on the National Geographic news website discusses a study of a " partial space elevator" between Earth and the moon that would not be connected to Earth, but rather would hang in space.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140306-space-elevator-partial-orbit-science/

This type of space elevator seems more feasible than one that reaches from the surface of the Earth. The information about why this is a better idea provides excellent vocabulary for comparisons and contrast. So in addition to discussing the topic, students can be focused on the useful vocabulary. For example:

• about a quarter of the distance
• would be less than half as long
• worth exploring more
• Today's materials aren't strong enough
• Instead, a much smaller elevator looks less far-fetched.
• a much higher counterweight
• far more efficient than
• using longer tethers resulted in more energy savings
• costs ... are lower than those of ...
• even more energy efficient
• would be better, as it does away with ...

Due to the subject matter, there is also a lot of vocabulary in the semantic field of space travel:

• space elevator
• hanging in space
• space travel
• high orbit
• distance to the moon
• space engineer
• space rockets
• geosynchronous orbit
• communications and television satellites
• low Earth orbit
• the planet's surface
• satellites
• sending a spacecraft from low Earth orbit
• a rocket
• the spacecraft
• rocket-powered transportation
• low-Earth orbit launch
• International Space Elevator Consortium

 Another useful semantic field for engineers is that of energy:

• energy requirements
• far more efficient than
• more energy savings
• solar powered
• even more energy efficient

Finally, the article has many examples of how numbers and statistics are used in English. My students need to know this information for their presentations, technical writing and future professions. Some examples, with collocations highlighted:

• cut the costs of space travel to high orbit by 40 percent
• about a quarter of the distance to the moon
• would be less than half as long
• It now costs about $25,00 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) to put something into geosynchronous orbit
• which extends from roughly 99 miles (160 kilometers) to 1,243 miles (2,000 kilometers) above the planet's surface
• some 26,200 miles (42,164 kilometers) above Earth
• at around $5,000 to $10,000 per kilogram (2.2 pounds), accounting for some of the savings

So my students had an interesting discussion about this topic in class, and I was able to make the vocabulary material relevant to their studies.