Seems like our little green friends will have an easier way to get to this planet and babysit us away from nuclear war. :D

- Cencept got US patent, proposed by Ontario-Based Thoth Techonology firm 

- 20 times the height of the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa

- would save fuel and money against rocket launching stuff and people to space

- will include self-landing rocket

- "Astronauts would ascend 20 km by an electric elevator. From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refuelling and reflight," its inventor Dr Brendan Quine was quoted as saying.

- includes a design with inflatable sections and flywheels that will provide stability

- The patent read:

"The present invention is a self-supporting space elevator tower for the delivery of payloads to at least one platform or pod above the surface of the Earth for the purposes of space launch,"

"The space elevator tower may also be used to deliver equipment, personnel and other objects or people to at least one platform or pod above the surface of the Earth for the purpose of scientific research, communications and tourism," it added. 

The idea of a space elevator was first proposed by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/20-km-high-space-elevator-could-be-a-reality-soon/articleshow/48526413.cms

Nice, huh?

That would be awsome

I wonder what would happen during a thunderstorm. Can't exactly rely on lightning rods when your building is inside the clouds, right?

Reminds me of the fact that Japan also wants to have a space elevator built before 2050, which should be even higher. I love the idea of a space elevator and I hope it will work out.

Soon meaning in the first few centuries.

The space program needs this to happen. It's the logical next step. The way it's done now is so incredibly expensive that it's prohibitive.

After reading the Red Mars novels, though, I can never think of a space elevator without dreading the potential for terrorism. You do NOT want this to come crashing down.

I still think something like this is most reasonable long term project - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop



Of course, my eyes are on this puppy in near future:

I've been hearing about this for a long time on space shows. This would be really awesome if they were able to do it.

That is the crappiest of SketchUp models I've ever seen.

I'm sorry, but if the company can't make a halfway decent model even in SketchUp, I doubt they can design a "space elevator".

Can a person jumping off that height burn ? if so can he do it completely so everyone who wants to kill themselves have both a cool way to die and in a way that doesn't damage other people... (I know they couldn't breath at that height but I was wondering)