
The Space Elevator - Red_Tarsius
http://io9.com/this-huge-engineering-project-may-be-our-best-chance-at-5832012
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Red_Tarsius
tl;dr -> I've always scoffed at the _elevator into space_ idea, but NASA
scientists are actually quite intrigued by it and looking for feasible
solutions. They are even offering a price of over $1 million to people who can
come up with materials to make it happen. So far, the biggest obstacle seems
to be the quality of the cable. The project is divided into 3 basic
components:

\- the robotic climber, or elevator car;

\- power beaming propulsion;

\- carbon nanotube ribbon, or elevator cable.

There's even an annual conference on the subject!
[http://www.isec.org/sec/](http://www.isec.org/sec/)

