The space elevator is a concept which has the potential to replace chemical based launch vehicles in the future. It is a long tether attached to the earth at an equatorial base station which extends out past geo-synchronous Earth orbit where it is attached to a counterweight. The counterweight keeps the tether taut, enabling climbers to ascend into orbit.

While the idea for a space elevator has been around since 1960¹, it has not been given serious consideration until the discovery of carbon nanotubes in the early 1990s. Nanotubes have enormous theoretical tensile strengths – more than 100 times that of steel.² This strength, coupled with their relatively low density finally provided the material which could make construction of a space elevator feasible. There are problems, however. To date, lengths of constructed carbon nanotubes are very small³; certainly smaller than the 36,000 miles needed for a space elevator project. In addition, little to no research has been done into testing requirements specific to a space elevator project.

Current plans for space shuttle replacements have a major flaw: market analyses predict that they will not lower launch prices if they merely attain their benchmarks.⁴ The demand for space launches is not likely to increase unless prices drop well below the current benchmarks. In addition, unless the demand for launches increases dramatically, the costs to space for any chemical based launch system will not decrease much more than the current estimates for second generation RLVs, and we will be stuck in a Catch-22. The only way to break this deadlock will be to introduce a new type of launch system with significantly lower launch costs. The space elevator concept fits this bill perfectly.