Test for Future Space Elevator Takes Place in Japan

August 15, 2018

Minamisoma, Fukushima Pref.- A test for an envisaged space elevator to link Earth and a space station was conducted Tuesday at the Fukushima Robot Test Field in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

In the test, led by the Japan Space Elevator Association, equipment called climber carrying a four-legged robot ascended a cable hung from a flying balloon.

The robot jumped from some 40 meters above the ground and landed by parachute in a simulation of a landing on Mars.

Space elevators have been proposed as a new means of mass transportation to outer space that would replace rockets.

But even if technology advances to enable such elevators to reach space, many technological challenges would remain in ensuring their safe landings on the moon and planets, an association official said.

Further tests will be conducted to establish safe landing methods using parachutes and jets, the official said.

"It's theoretically possible to realize a space elevator," Shuichi Ono, head of the association, said after the day's test, while admitting that technological development has not reached a desired level.

He expressed a wish to realize the space elevator by 2050. Jiji Press