The journey into space is a long and dangerous one and not many people are able to do it. Lots of training is in need before one gets on the spaceship. But soon, it may be as simple as riding an elevator".
A group of Japanese scientists from Shizuoka University have been working on a "space elevator", which will allow easy access to space.
On Sept 22nd, 2018, two tiny satellites" were sent to the International Space Station (1SS) as a test for the space elevator. The mini elevator has a 10-meter steel cable. It works as a tiny model of a full-size "space elevator"，which might reach from Earth all the way to outer space. "It's going to be the world's first experiment to test elevator in space, "the spokesman of Shizuoka University said.
According to Science Daily, the research team hopes to build the elevator by 2050. The space elevator may be able to carry up to 30 people. The trip will be about 36,000 km, which will take around eight days to complete. If it is successful, space elevators will greatly cut the cost of transporting cargo into space from $22,000 (154,000 yuan) to $200 (1,400 yuan) per kilogram. More importantly, they will produce less pollution during space travel.
Still, there are many hurdles along the way. According to the official website of the US-based Smithsonian institution, until now, researchers haven't found a material strong enough to hold the stress placed on the elevator cable. Even carbon nanotubes, the strongest material they have found so far, would break under the stress.
The challenges facing the space elevator are massive, but they have not stopped Japan from working on it. "Japanese researchers believe the idea of space elevator will be realised, since there many scientists in the fields of robotics and carbon nanotube technology in the team Michelle Z. Donahue, Smithsonian science reporter, wrote in 2016.
