Space Elevator

A team from King's College London believes that advances in carbon nanotubes could make it possible to create a tether strong enough to reach over 22,000 miles into space.

The concept of a 'space elevator' has been around as far back as 1895, but the reality has not been possible because there was no known material strong enough to support such a structure. Mark Miodownik of King's College London believes that carbon nanotubes could be the solution. Less than 1/50,000 the width of a hair, carbon nanotubes wound together to the width of a thread can support the weight of a car.

NASA has earmarked $3 million dollars to research the idea.

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