TITLE: Space Elevators
NAME: Brian Blovett
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: brianblovett@mac.com
WEBPAGE: http://homepage.mac.com/brianblovett/
TOPIC: Epic Proportions
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: spaceele.jpg
ZIPFILE: spaceele.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray 3.1

TOOLS USED: 
    GraphicConverter for pict to JPEG conversion)

RENDER TIME: 
    3min 18sec

HARDWARE USED: 
    iBook (500MHz G3/256MB RAM)

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 

Looking down a space elevator that reaches from a planet's surface to an orbital
space station. We see another elevator and station in the distance. The
stations and elevators are actually being held down by the planet as they are
pulled upon by centripital accelleration (like holding a rock on a string as
you spin around - the string doesn't support the rock, it pulls it in). The
idea was postulated in "The Endless Frontier" (I can't remember the author, but
a neat book). The planet, like Earth, is about 8,000 miles in diameter. The
stations are about 2,000 miles in diameter, and the elevators are 20 miles in
diameter - certainly epic proportions, yet so small in the vastness of space.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 

I got a late start, and did nearly this whole project on the last day. The
planet was done using layered textures for the land, sea, and ice caps, with an
extra sphere for a cloud layer, and another for the upper atmosphere. The
elevators and stations are pretty simple unions, with rather simple textures. I
wish I had more time to work on them, especially the textures.

In the intrests of visual interest, I did take some liberties with scale. The
cloud layer is about 50 miles off the planet's surface, when in reality it
should be closer to 15 miles. The elevators and stations are much bigger than
I'd consider realistic, and the far elevator is actually 260 miles in diameter
so you can see it!

I think it came out nicely for the time I put into it. Thanks and enjoy! The
entire 4k source is in the zip file.