Elevator 2010 is a competition that was started in 2005 in the US to realise the dream of building an elevator on earth that extends into space. The competition is open to universities and aerospace firms and the requirement is to build a space elevator prototype that can travel 100 meters into the air in under 50 seconds.
As the name suggests, they propose that this competition will help to develop the technology to be able to build a space elevator by 2010, which could be followed by an actual elevator in 2020. The competition consists of 3 main areas of technology. The tether, which is made from carbon nanotubes; the carrier (elevator), which is a solar powered platform with pulleys to move up the tether; and a beam power source, which is a light source that sits on the ground and directs light at the solar cells on the carrier, providing the power. Does any of this sound far fetched? Well, I thought the 2010 goal was a little optimistic until I saw the video http://www.elevator2010.org/index.html . It’s quite amazing.
The main thing keeping this concept on the ground 
is the fact that we cannot yet manufacture a carbon nanotube composite tether that meets the necessary requirements. Work is being done in this area and once this has been addressed, most of the fundamental challenges will have been met. The group behind the competition claim that it is not a question of technology as to whether or not this idea will fly (or climb), but one of politics. The technology is just around the corner, but governments around the world need to be convinced of its usefulness and feasibility. The 2010 website provides some convincing arguments!
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