Space elevator by 2010 ?

Everyone laughed at Arthur Clarke's when he first envisionned Space lifts in his book: Fountains of Paradise; today, the race is on to be the first to develop such an apparatus.

Only just recently have scientists discovered and engineered a wonder material: CNTs; carbon nanotubes. I believe it will be one of the most important material of the 21st century!

The Space Elevator is a thin ribbon, with a cross-section area roughly half that of a pencil, extending from a ship-borne anchor to a counterweight well beyond geo-synchronous orbit. Some quick facts from Elevator 2010.:

• Electric vehicles, called climbers, ascend the ribbon using electricity generated by solar panels and a ground based booster light beam.
• In addition to lifting payloads from earth to orbit, the elevator can also release them directly into lunar-injection or earth-escape trajectories.
• The baseline system weighs about 1500 tons (including counterweight) and can carry up to 15 ton payloads, easily one per day.
• The ribbon is 62,000 miles long, about 3 feet wide, and is thinner than a sheet of paper. It is made out of a carbon nanotube composite material.
• The climbers travel at a steady 200 kilometers per hour (120 MPH), do not undergo accelerations and vibrations, can carry large and fragile payloads, and have no propellant stored onboard.

Read more: [ Elevator 2010 ]