Forget Spaceships — Japan Is Trying To Build An Elevator To Space

Unsplash/Richard Gatley

Forget booking a ticket on a hella expensive rocket to space with Elon Musk — engineers in Japan are trying to build an elevator to the stars.

Okay, not the actual stars. That’s impossible. But a group of researchers at Shizuoka University are tackling what was previously thought to be impossible and attempting to build a “space elevator” that could bring cargo and people from Earth to space.

In late September, these scientists are going to start the process of testing what they need to make a space elevator more than the stuff of science fiction dreams. How do you test a space elevator? Great question. First, a rocket will be launched from a Japanese island. That rocket will have a mini-elevator inside (less than three inches total) and it will have to operate between two satellites. The big question: Can an elevator cable work without gravity?

Unsplash/SpaceX

A Japanese corporation is betting yes. In fact, the company already proposed a 60,000-mile route from a station floating in the ocean to a satellite floating in space. (To be clear, satellites don’t float in space — they orbit the planet. But we think it’s just bizarre enough of a concept to gloss over the physics of it all.) The total travel time from Earth to space would be approximately eight days in the elevator.

Even crazier, the planned launch year of the space elevator is 2050. That means you just have to wait an estimated 32 years to get into space. Think the aliens are ready for us?

[h/t Travel & Leisure]

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