Looking to go on an extraterrestrial voyage but hate dangerous rocket launches? If you’re willing to wait 38 years, Tokyo-based Obayashi Corp. may have just the vehicle for you — a space elevator. It’s been dreamed of by space nerds for more than a century and the Japanese firm hopes to make the elevator a reality by 2050. Unlike a terrestrial elevator, the space elevator’s car would travel at 200 km/h along a 36,000 km cable. Obayashi’s engineers hope that the elevator will be made of carbon nanotubes, a material 20 times stronger than steel but that is not presently manufactured cheaply or efficiently enough to make the elevator possible.
