Editing Space elevator (section)

=== 21st century advancements ===
To speed space elevator development, proponents have organized several [[Space Elevator Competitions|competitions]], similar to the [[Ansari X Prize]], for relevant technologies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5792719 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214181227/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5792719/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 December 2013 |title=Space elevator contest proposed |first=Alan |last=Boyle |publisher=NBC News |date=27 August 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Space Elevator – Elevator:2010 |url=http://www.elevator2010.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106211508/http://www.elevator2010.org/ |archive-date=6 January 2007 |access-date=5 March 2006}}</ref> Among them are [[Elevator:2010]], which organized annual competitions for climbers, ribbons and power-beaming systems from 2005 to 2009, the Robogames Space Elevator Ribbon Climbing competition,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://robogames.net/rules/climbing.php |title=Space Elevator Ribbon Climbing Robot Competition Rules |access-date=5 March 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050206100051/http://robolympics.net/rules/climbing.shtml|archive-date=6 February 2005}}</ref> as well as NASA's [[Centennial Challenges]] program, which, in March 2005, announced a partnership with the Spaceward Foundation (the operator of Elevator:2010), raising the total value of prizes to US$400,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_m05083_Centennial_prizes.html |title=NASA Announces First Centennial Challenges' Prizes |year=2005 |access-date=5 March 2006 |archive-date=8 June 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050608083813/http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_m05083_Centennial_prizes.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/news/050323_centennial_challenge.html |title=NASA Details Cash Prizes for Space Privatization |first=Robert Roy |last=Britt |work=Space.com |date=24 March 2005 |access-date=5 March 2006}}</ref>
The first European Space Elevator Challenge (EuSEC) to establish a climber structure took place in August 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=What's the European Space Elevator Challenge? |url=http://eusec.warr.de/?eusec |publisher=European Space Elevator Challenge |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-date=15 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815214545/http://eusec.warr.de/?eusec |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2005, "the [[LiftPort Group]] of space elevator companies announced that it will be building a carbon nanotube manufacturing plant in [[Millville, New Jersey]], to supply various glass, plastic and metal companies with these strong materials. Although LiftPort hopes to eventually use carbon nanotubes in the construction of a {{convert|100,000|km|mi|abbr=on}} space elevator, this move will allow it to make money in the short term and conduct research and development into new production methods."<ref name="universetoday">{{cite news |url=http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/liftport_manufacture_nanotubes.html?2742005 |title=Space Elevator Group to Manufacture Nanotubes |date=27 April 2005 |first=Fraser |last=Cain |work=Universe Today |access-date=5 March 2006}}</ref> Their announced goal was a space elevator launch in 2010. On 13 February 2006, the LiftPort Group announced that, earlier the same month, they had tested a mile of "space-elevator tether" made of carbon-fiber composite strings and fiberglass tape measuring {{cvt|5|cm|in}} wide and {{cvt|1|mm|in}} (approx. 13 sheets of paper) thick, lifted with balloons.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn8725.html |title=Space-elevator tether climbs a mile high |date=15 February 2006 |work=New Scientist |first=Kimm |last=Groshong |access-date=5 March 2006}}</ref> In April 2019, Liftport CEO Michael Laine admitted little progress has been made on the company's lofty space elevator ambitions, even after receiving more than $200,000 in seed funding. The carbon nanotube manufacturing facility that Liftport announced in 2005 was never built.<ref>{{cite web |date=28 March 2019 |title=If a space elevator was ever going to happen, it could have gotten its start in N. J. Here's how it went wrong |url=https://www.nj.com/cumberland/2019/04/if-a-space-elevator-was-ever-going-to-happen-it-could-have-gotten-its-start-in-nj-heres-how-it-went-wrong.html |access-date=11 May 2019 |publisher=NJ.com}}</ref>

In 2007, [[Elevator:2010]] held the 2007 Space Elevator games, which featured US$500,000 awards for each of the two competitions ($1,000,000 total), as well as an additional $4,000,000 to be awarded over the next five years for space elevator related technologies.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100118153108/http://www.spaceward.org/elevator2010 Elevator:2010 – The Space Elevator Challenge]. spaceward.org.</ref> No teams won the competition, but a team from [[MIT]] entered the first 2-gram (0.07&nbsp;oz), 100-percent carbon nanotube entry into the competition.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071101081423/http://www.spaceward.org/games07Wrapup.html Spaceward Games 2007]. The Spaceward Foundation.</ref> Japan held an international conference in November 2008 to draw up a timetable for building the elevator.<ref name="JapanUKTimes">{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Leo |date=22 September 2008 |title=Japan hopes to turn sci-fi into reality with elevator to the stars |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/article1967078.ece |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200226134504/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/article1967078.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 February 2020 |access-date=23 May 2010 |work=[[The Times]] |location=London, England}} Lewis, Leo; News International Group; accessed 22 September 2008.</ref>

In 2012, the [[Obayashi Corporation]] announced that it could build a space elevator by 2050 using carbon nanotube technology.<ref name="physorg_obayashi">{{cite news| url=http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-japan-builder-eyes-space-elevator.html | website=Phys.org | title=Going up: Japan builder eyes space elevator | date=22 February 2012}}</ref> The design's passenger climber would be able to reach the level of geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) after an 8-day trip.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-take-tiny-first-step-toward-space-elevator-180970212/ | title=Japan Takes Tiny First Step Toward Space Elevator | date=5 September 2018 |work=Smithsonian Magazine |first=Jason |last=Daley}}</ref> Further details were published in 2016.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ishikawa |first1=Y. |date=2016 |title=Obayashi Corporation's Space Elevator Construction Concept |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016JBIS...69..227I/abstract |journal=Journal of the British Interplanetary Society |volume=69 |issue= |pages=227–239 |doi= |bibcode=2016JBIS...69..227I |access-date=5 January 2021}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[International Academy of Astronautics]] published a technological feasibility assessment which concluded that the critical capability improvement needed was the tether material, which was projected to achieve the necessary [[specific strength]] within 20 years. The four-year long study looked into many facets of space elevator development including missions, development schedules, financial investments, revenue flow, and benefits. It was reported that it would be possible to operationally survive smaller impacts and avoid larger impacts, with meteors and space debris, and that the estimated cost of lifting a kilogram of payload to GEO and beyond would be $500.<ref name="ISEC_SE_way_forward_2013"/>{{rp|10–11, 207–208}}<ref>{{cite report |editor-last1=Swan |editor-first1=Peter |editor-last2=Penny |editor-first2=Rober "Skip" |editor-last3=Swan |editor-first3=Cathy |date=2010 |title=Space Elevator Survivability, Space Debris Mitigation |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e35af40fb280744e1b16f7b/t/5e5c1d06483fcf20335da699/1583095099789/2010StudyReport_SpaceElevatorSpaceDebris.pdf |publisher=International Space Elevator Consortium}}{{Self-published source|reason=Published via Lulu.com.|date=August 2024}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2024|reason=Lengthy document; please provide applicable page.}}

In 2014, Google X's Rapid Evaluation R&D team began the design of a Space Elevator, eventually finding that no one had yet manufactured a perfectly formed [[carbon nanotube]] strand longer than a meter. They thus put the project in "deep freeze" and also keep tabs on any advances in the carbon nanotube field.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gayomali|first=Chris|title=Google X Confirms The Rumors: It Really Did Try To Design A Space Elevator|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3029138/world-changing-ideas/google-x-confirms-the-rumors-it-really-did-try-to-design-a-space-elevat?partner=rss|work=Fast Company |date=15 April 2014 |access-date=17 April 2014}}</ref>

In 2018, researchers at Japan's [[Shizuoka University]] launched STARS-Me, two [[CubeSat]]s connected by a tether, which a mini-elevator will travel on.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/colossal-elevator-space-could-be-going-sooner-you-ever-imagined-ncna915421 | title=A colossal elevator to space could be going up sooner than you ever imagined |work=NBC News |date=2 October 2018 |first=Scott |last=Snowden}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.curbed.com/2018/9/12/17851500/space-elevator-japan-news |title=Japan is trying to build an elevator to space |publisher=Curbed.com |first=Meghan |last=Barber |date=12 September 2018 |access-date=18 September 2018}}</ref> The experiment was launched as a test bed for a larger structure.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://gizmodo.com/japan-testing-miniature-space-elevator-near-the-interna-1828800558 |title = Japan Testing Miniature Space Elevator Near the International Space Station| date=4 September 2018 }}</ref>

In 2019, the [[International Academy of Astronautics]] published "Road to the Space Elevator Era",<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Swan PA, Raitt DI, Knapman JM, Tsuchida A, Fitzgerald MA, Ishikawa Y |title=Road to the Space Elevator Era |date=30 May 2019 |publisher=International Academy of Astronautics |isbn=978-0-9913370-3-3 |url=https://www.heinleinbooks.com/product-page/road-to-the-space-elevator-era}}</ref> a study report summarizing the assessment of the space elevator as of summer 2018. The essence is that a broad group of space professionals gathered and assessed the status of the space elevator development, each contributing their expertise and coming to similar conclusions: (a) Earth Space Elevators seem feasible, reinforcing the IAA 2013 study conclusion (b) Space Elevator development initiation is nearer than most think. This last conclusion is based on a potential process for manufacturing macro-scale single crystal [[graphene]]<ref name="azom.com">{{Cite web |date=23 July 2018 |title=Space Elevator Technology and Graphene: An Interview with Adrian Nixon |url=https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=16371}}</ref> with higher [[specific strength]] than [[carbon nanotube]]s.