“The European Space Agency estimates that 128 million objects smaller than 1 centimeter are orbiting Earth, along with another 900,000 objects that measure 1 to 10 centimeters. Any space elevator would be subject to collisions with these objects, so it would have to be capable of withstanding or out-manoeuvring them…”

“The classical space elevator is a really tough problem because the Earth’s gravity field is so great that you need such strong materials that we don’t have right now,” Jerome Pearson, an aerospace engineer who first proposed the lunar elevator in 1977, told NBC News. “On the other hand, you could build a lunar space elevator with existing materials right now.” Unlike a space elevator that rises from Earth, a lunar elevator would not use centrifugal force. Gravity would do all the work…”

Text: A giant elevator could connect Earth to space using current technology, experts say — here’s how that might work