Space Elevator

The Japanese are exploring the development of a $5 billion dollar space elevator that will potentially take radioactive waste, solar generators, and even people to space.

If it seems like a work of science fiction, that's because it is! The space elevator was first envisioned by Arthur C. Clarke in his classic 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise. Now, Japanese engineers are hunched over a copy of that very book trying to figure out how the heck to make it work.