Left in a Lurch by a Lift

The idea of replacing rockets with a space elevator as a way of getting into orbit has been around since Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed building a "celestial castle" in 1895. This idea has had something of a vogue in recent years as chaps like Bradley Edwards have claimed that building such a cosmic lift is not only possible, but feasible or even practical by using super-strong carbon nanotubes for the 100,000-kilometre-long cable needed for the Earth/orbit link.

Now comes something of a wet blanket in the form of Nicola Pugno of the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, whose recent studies declare that even though nanotubes are jolly tough, any attempt at scaling them up results in an unavoidable tendency to weaken by as much as seventy percent.

Plan B: Stairway to Heaven.