The whole concept is kinda wacko if you ask me; but here's a Space Elevator site with lots of sexy graphics:<br /><br />
www.nanotech-now.com/Art_Gallery/LiftPort.htm<br /><br />Excerpt: <br /><br />"The subject of research for more than a century, the space elevator is a unique way to ferry cargo and people into space. Recent advances in technology, most notably the development of carbon nanotube composites, now appear to make building a space elevator feasible." <br /><br />"Initial research reports on building the space elevator that draw upon these discoveries have now been completed. As proposed in these reports, the space elevator will consist of a carbon nanotube composite ribbon stretching some 62,000 miles from earth to space. The elevator will be anchored to an offshore sea platform near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and to a small counterweight in space. Mechanical lifters (robotic elevator cars) will move up and down the ribbon, carrying such items as satellites, solar power systems, and eventually people into space."<br /><br />-------<br /><br />This idea will be practical when we have the technology to build a suspension bridge from California to Japan...