Cool Tech, Japan leading the way with serious effort

Japan hopes to turn sci-fi into reality with elevator to the stars

Leo Lewis in Tokyo

From cyborg housemaids and waterpowered cars to dog translators and rocket
boots, Japanese boffins have racked up plenty of near-misses in the quest to
turn science fiction into reality.

Now the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking
the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far
conquered space by painfully and inefficiently blasting himself out of the
atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride to the
final frontier.

For chemists, physicists, material scientists, astronauts and dreamers across
the globe, the space elevator represents the most tantalising of concepts:
cables stronger and lighter than any fibre yet woven, tethered to the ground
and disappearing beyond the atmosphere to a satellite docking station in
geosynchronous orbit above Earth.

There are huge engineering and materials breakthroughs necessary for this project to succeed, but the first nation to actually have one of these will more than recoup the costs I think. Much like the Apollo program spun off many technologies that made hundreds of billions in profit possible, so to this project could really kick start a new world.

I know many people who think "All that space stuff is a waste of money, we should help people here at home first" but they for some reason don't see how that is such a socialist and backward thinking idea. Moving out into the solar system will bring us wealth and resources beyond measure if we ever manage to do it.