The space elevator has been called a “stairway to the heavens,” but making one work comes with massive engineering challenges. In this video, I dive into the details - from counterweights to tethers ...

The human body can withstand much greater loads than its sheer material strength would suggest. Sprinters can push an Achilles tendon to more than 75 percent of its tensile strength, while ...

Space elevators to ferry passengers and cargo to and from orbit could be built using existing materials, if the technology takes inspiration from biology to fix itself when needed, a new study finds.

Last week's Space Elevator Conference, hosted by Microsoft, threw some cold water on fans of cheap space lift, but may have also made the dream seem more real as real solutions came under test. At the ...

How can we reach space without a rocket? This video explores the space elevator concept, a massive cable stretching from Earth to orbit. Engineers discuss new materials like carbon nanotubes and the ...

Next time you step inside an elevator, imagine it has a button marked “space.” It may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers in Japan are prepping an experiment for this month to ...

Admittedly, at least for now, the idea of a beanstalk-style space elevator connecting Earth and space is a stretch. But next month’s X Prize Cup will host the Space Elevator Games, an unprecedented ...

The push for a space elevator took a step forward this week when a team of researchers from Shizuoka University in Japan announced that they will launch an experiment to the International Space ...

IT MIGHT be in Indonesia. Maybe Brazil. Possibly on a barge floating in the Pacific Ocean. Wherever it ends up, somewhere on the equator the world’s tallest structure will jut out into space, a ...