space elevator concept

In 1969, Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon's surface. Several others followed him in space via rocket launch. 40 years later, a new and safer way to travel to space has been proposed by NASA that is cost efficient and cost effective. Space Elevator is a proposed strong structure that enables the transport of materials from the earth to space via rocket powered by Laser Beam.

The concept of a space elevator began in 1895 when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed a free-standing "Tsiolkovsky" tower reaching from the surface of Earth to geostationary orbit. This concept was adopted by NASA, using a tensile structure stretching from earth's ground to a geostationary orbit.

Carbon Nano-tube, the perfect material for the space elevator

Recent conceptualizations for a space elevator are notable in their plans to use carbon nanotube-based materials as the tensile element in the tether design, since the measured strength of microscopic carbon nanotubes appears great enough to make this theoretically possible. And the European Union was given the task to develop the structure.

Several forums are scheduled to discuss matters regarding the development of the project. And as part of the experiment to determine the viability of the concept, the Space Elevator games began in 2004.