US firm announced an ambitious project to build a lunar space elevator that could transport both robots and humans using an existing technology, in less than a decade. Fundraising efforts are already underway.

A lunar space elevator is a cable running from the surface of the moon into space. It is similar to a concept known as the earth space elevator, which is LiftPort’s ultimate goal. The idea of the space elevator is designed to permit transport along the cable from a planetary surface directly into space without the use of large rockets. The cable would be held up due to the competing forces of gravity and the upward centrifugal force.

Image from liftport.com