Going up? - elevator into space: can it happen?

[Whickerman]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scien ce/article4799369.ece

The Times today reported that the Japanese are considering a platform that will be hard-wired up to a satellite, and will move like an elevator up 22000miles into space. Any thoughts?

[ChuckFickens]

similar ideas have been considered for a little while now but we don't currently have the materials available to make such a structure strong enough and light enough to support it's self.

carbon nano tubes are believed to be the answer when they can be perfected.

[Hymie]

I recall seeing a program on TV about a year ago, where Arthur C. Clarke said that he expected them to be reality within 15 years or so.

As ChuckFickens says, the latest concepts propose the use of carbon nano tubes for the �rope�.

In the TV program, space vehicles were to use some form of propulsion to power themselves up the �rope�. Why not use an electric motor to crawl up the rope into space � the vehicle could even pick up the electrical power from conductive tracks in the rope.?

[Hymie]

See this link to Wikipedia on the subject:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_lift