What is a Space Elevator?:
The Space Elevator, as it is conceived today, is a relatively simply concept. It consists of a thin ribbon, called a tether, and made of a carbon nanotubes composite, extending from a ship-borne anchor to a counterweight in space, well beyond geo-synchronous orbit; about 62,000 miles long. The ribbon is kept taut by the rotation of the Earth and that of the counter weight at the end of the ribbon. At the anchor, the ribbon will pull up with approximately 20 tons of force. Electric vehicles, called climbers, could then climb up and down the ribbon powered by ground based lasers. Not only could the Space Elevator be used to haul cargo and personnel in to orbit, but it could also release them directly into lunar-injection or earth escape trajectories.

The Cost:
The entire system can be built and deployed for under 10 billion dollars. This is considerably less than the costs of either the Shuttle or International Space Station programs. Also, since most of the operations involved in running the Space Elevator occur at the ground station, the operating costs would be relatively inexpensive. Initially, with the first Space Elevator, it would cost roughly $100 /lb to transport cargo from earth to orbit, and this price tag would decrease drastically as volumes of traffic increase. Also, a Space Elevator could lift 15 tons of payload into orbit each day; that’s over 5300 tons a year!