Space elevators could revolutionize the space industry.

Far cheaper than rockets and also the tonnage that you could put into orbit on a very regular basis is much greater than rockets and also safer.

But could the science fiction concept become a reality? It's Wednesday, August 21st, and this is Science Friday. I'm Sci-Fi Radio Fellow Valeria Diaz.

Imagine a long cable stretching from the Earth surface to a satellite docked in orbit, 22,000 miles high.

It will work like elevators here in Earth, sending things and people up into space.

This would make the need for expensive rockets we use today obsolete.

It may sound impossible, but physicists have been thinking about the space elevator since the late 19th century.

Today, some people believe that its construction could be closer than most people think.

But it has never been considered a feasible project due to its supposed exorbitant cost and

the engineering challenges it poses.

So how close are we to make in this concept a reality? Here is Cyphrise

Ira Plato with more. Here to parse some of the problems is Dr. Dennis Wright, president of the

International Space Elevator Consortium.

He joins us from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Welcome to Science Friday.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Tell us what the parts of a space elevator would be.

There is the cable as you mentioned and it would

extend from the surface of the Earth to actually well-past geosynchronous orbit.

The geosynchronous orbit or the geostationary orbit is the key thing here.

It is that point in the sky 22,000 miles up which would maintain the same spot over

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