The cable carrying the elevator would ideally reach 96,000km (59,652 miles) into space, and use robotic cars powered by magnetic linear motors.

When news first broke a couple of years ago that a Japanese company felt they had the capacity to build a space elevator in the coming years, I took it to be nothing more than a science fiction fantasy project. Surely, even with the vast developments that have been made in space technology, “The Final Frontier” would never be accessible via an elevator in my lifetime. Well kids, let me now eat those words. Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corporation announced this week that it plans to have a fully functional space elevator by the year 2050.

Obayashi readily admits that the project won’t be an easy one to complete; as it stands, some of the materials that will be required to finish the project aren’t even available in this day and age. But recent developments in the field of carbon nanotechnology have actually made the dream a feasible reality. Obayashi’s Research and Development Manager Yoji Ishikawa told Australian Broadcasting Corporation this week that “The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable so it’s possible”. He added, however, that “Right now we can’t make the cable long enough. We can only make 3-centimetre-long nanotubes but we need much more… we think by 2030 we’ll be able to do it.”

The cable carrying the elevator would ideally reach 96,000km (59,652 miles) into space, and use robotic cars powered by magnetic linear motors (maglev, as seen in high-speed rail lines in Asia and Europe) to ferry cargo and humans to a space station that would be built specifically for space elevator passengers. Approximately 36,000 kilometers from Earth they plan to have a terminal station where small rockets could be towed for launch, saving huge amounts of money on fuel costs in the process. The cars themselves are designed to carry up to 30 people, and the trip from Earth to the ‘Space Penthouse’ is expected to take a total of seven days one-way. The biggest impact the space elevator would have on space travel lies in the simple cost of transportation. Scientists believe that the cost of reaching space could be lowered from its current average of $20,000 per kilo to only $200 per kilo – a pretty drastic reduction for space tourism enthusiasts.

Engineering departments at universities across Japan are currently holding contests to try to further develop the technology for Obayashi’s ambitious space elevator project. Bringing the project to fruition will likely require an international effort though, and the International Space Elevator Consortium is already attempting to coordinate efforts. Ishikawa himself agreed that “I don’t think one company can make it, we’ll need an international organization to make this big project”.