Analemma Tower: New York-Based Firm Wants To Hang A Skyscraper From An Orbiting Asteroid

Does the idea of living in a skyscraper strung from an asteroid stuck in a geosynchronous orbit 30,000 miles above Earth’s surface catch your fancy? If so, you might be interested in the plan for such a structure proposed by a New York-based architecture firm.

Named the “Analemma Tower” (analemma is the figure-eight pattern traced by the sun when tracked from the same place on Earth through the year), this outrageous structure — if constructed — would be the tallest ever built. According to the recently released concept art, the building would be nearly 20 miles high. Compare this to Burj Khalifa, the current record holder for the tallest building in the world, which is just a shade over half a mile in height.

“Analemma inverts the traditional diagram of an earth-based foundation, instead depending on a space-based supporting foundation from which the tower is suspended. By placing a large asteroid into orbit over earth, a high strength cable can be lowered towards the surface of earth from which a super tall tower can be suspended,” the firm — Clouds Architecture Office — said in a statement accompanying the artwork and plans. “Since this new tower typology is suspended in the air, it can be constructed anywhere in the world and transported to its final location. The proposal calls for Analemma to be constructed over Dubai, which has proven to be a specialist in tall building construction at one fifth the cost of New York City construction.”

The tower would, during the course of 24 hours, trace a figure-eight pattern that would swing it between the northern and the southern hemispheres.

“Business is conducted at the lower end of the tower, while sleeping quarters are approximately 2/3 of the way up. Devotional activities are scattered along the highest reaches, while surface transfer points take advantage of high topography,” the company explained in the statement. “The size and shape of windows changes with height to account for pressure and temperature differentials.”

If the name Clouds Architecture Office sounds familiar, it’s because it is the same company, which is collaborating with NASA to design an “Ice Home” to house astronauts planning to visit Mars. The structure is basically a large inflatable torus surrounded by a shell of water-ice extracted from just below the Martian surface.

In terms of scope and speculative nature of the project, however, the Analemma Tower is far ahead of the vision behind the Mars Ice home concept.

Consider moving an asteroid (of sufficiently large dimensions) to a geosynchronous orbit, for instance. The firm said in its statement that NASA has planned an asteroid retrieval mission for 2021, which would prove the feasibility of capturing and relocating an asteroid. However, it is far from certain that this asteroid redirect mission would take place, as the Donald Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal does not allocate any funds for it.

“We remain committed to the next human missions to deep space, but we will not pursue the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) with this budget,” NASA acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot said earlier this month.

Then there is the problem of space debris. Scientists estimate there may be over 100 million pieces of junk, most too small to be monitored, are currently floating in orbit — achieving speeds of over 17,000 miles per hour.

“The fact that space tethers are often cut in two by a space debris hit is the reason they haven't seen extensive use since the 1990s,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Christian Science Monitor.