Perhaps you’ve read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Roald Dahl’s sequel to his beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (if not, then you definitely should!). In the story, Charlie and Willy Wonka find themselves in a glass elevator orbiting the earth, where they end up fighting hostile aliens.

We mention this because, believe it or not, plans are afoot to create an actual elevator that ascends all the way into space, suspended by a paper-thin ribbon made of carbon nanotubes and powered by lasers. Watch the following video for a full description of this fascinating idea:

The only question that remains in our minds is how to fortify this elevator against all the floating space junk?

[Core77]

Filed under: Aerospace, e-News

Tags: Aerospace