The Space Elevator

The 2009 Space Elevator Conference, being held at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, Washington, begins this week. Hundreds of scientists, researchers, and space enthusiasts from all over the world will gather together and brainstorm about the challenges of building an elevator to space.

When I first heard about this idea I thought is was rather silly, after all, what would be the purpose of having an elevator that goes all the way up into space? Of course I am not a science geek and therefore do not fully understand all of the ends and outs or even the benefits that come with it. But according to David Horn “The big factor that could potentially change the world is that it would reduce the access cost to space,” he says. “Instead of paying US$10,000 a pound to put something into orbit with a rocket, you could reduce that cost to $100 a pound or less.”

The thing that has impressed me the most is a fairly new technology called carbon nanotubes which is thinner then a strand of hair and stronger than steel. As I said earlier, this is really beyond my understanding but I wanted to post on it and get your thoughts about this. It looks like the guys at Microsoft as well as others around the world are in fact serious about building this elevator. The question is will ever become a reality? If you would like to learn more about The Space Elevator Conference you can visit the official site at http://www.spaceelevatorconference.org/ for all the details and information.

Thanks for reading.