Futureproof: Space Elevator Lifts Humanity
Future Narrative
Last week, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of Span One of the Space Elevator complex. Over the last decade, the price of going into space has dropped dramatically, and critical environmental research and space tourism have reached new heights.
The production of carbon nanotubes at an industrial scale made the long-envisioned system a reality. Over the last decade, hundreds of tons of material have been lifted into space, and prices for orbital lifting continue to fall. The costs associated with building the Space Elevator have been offset by the frequency of mining spacecraft delivering valuable and exotic minerals from the asteroid belt.
Implications