Space Elevator Redux

The space elevator “games” of yore seem to have petered out, but here’s a new Japanese experiment that may lead to something more permanent.

“The ISS experiment, dubbed Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite–Mini elevator, or STARS-Me, was devised by physicists from Japan’s Shizuoka University. It will simulate on a small scale the conditions that the components of such a system would encounter. Cameras will examine the movement of a pair of tiny “cubesats” along a 10-meter tether in a weightless environment.”

Environmentalists probably would kill any American attempt to build one, but some other country (like Japan) might get it done.

Via Instapundit