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Real-world Sci-fi: Space Elevators

By Heather Quinlan, HowStuffWorks.com

Get Beamed Up

In the world of "Star Trek," Capt. Kirk often asked chief engineer Montgomery Scott to beam him up. Scotty would oblige, and Kirk would disappear into a mass of particles and reappear on deck. While the technology isn't quite at the point where we can be disassembled and reassembled wherever and whenever we'd like (thus avoiding checkout lines and traffic jams), we may be moving one step closer to getting transported into space.

Space Elevators: Beyond Science Fiction

It's no secret that space travel is an expensive proposition. Care to ride Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo to some jaw-dropping suborbital heights? No problem. That'll be $200,000. Imagine if space travel were as simple (and as easy on the budget) as hitting the "up" button on an elevator. This is roughly the concept behind space elevators.

Engineers and space enthusiasts envision the space elevator as a ribbon, with one end attached to Earth and the other to an outer-space counterweight; the Earth's rotation would keep it taut. When we say ribbon, we're not talking about the kind that secures pigtails; rather, the proposed material could be 30 or more times stronger than steel, thinner than a sheet of paper and made of carbon nanotubes. It will have to be strong to hoist the multi-ton elevator cars and their payloads into space. Lasers beams could generate the power necessary for all that hoisting and hauling (so you actually could be "beamed up").