They are on now, and the first teams are already succesful, being able to climb 899m at 3.9 m/s! The game is to get a robot up a line being held by a helicopter in flight. The robot is powered by just a laser beam. The Space Elevator Games.
Japan is committed, now NASA has 3 teams qualified to try to get their laser powered robot to climb a cable hanging from a helicopter one km in the air. Elevator to space? They’re really trying :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Nation.
Three independent missions have confirmed this. SPACE.com — It’s Official: Water Found on the Moon.
Between the planets and moons are gravitational corridors, tubes that intersect at lagrange points, which can be used to travel between celestial bodies using hardly any fuel, only for course correctional purposes. These corridors can be likened to ocean currents. The trade-off is now between speed and fuel consumption: you can use almost zero fuel Read more about Mapping gravitational corridors[…]
Japan has an automated logistics supply vehicle for the International Space Station, which has been launched today for the first time. It’s composed of pressurised and upressurised areas and will be stopped at 10 m from the ISS. Using the robo hand, astronauts can dock it. It’ll stay there as a kind of larder for Read more about Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle[…]
These guys are claiming that gyrocontrolled inflatable modules that allready exist (well, without the gyrocontrols then) could be stacked onto each other initially up to 15 km high. If placed on a mountain that could get it up to 20 km. This could then be used for tourism, atmospheric research, telecoms or spacecraft launches. Eventually Read more about Inflatable space tower[…]