Thoth Technology has been granted a patent for a ‘space elevator.’
Thoth Technology is planning to spend roughly $5 billion to build its space elevator, which will reach 12.4 miles into the sky. The elevator would allow the company to launch planes, astronauts and tourist into low orbit for a fraction of the price that it costs to send rockets that far, reports NBCNews.
“Astronauts would ascend to 20 km by electrical elevator,” Brendan Quine, inventor of the space elevator, told New York Daily News. “From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refueling and reflight.”
The space elevator took Thoth Technology roughly eight years to design. It will be made up of pressurized gas cells and trips to the top will take about an hour to complete at 7 mph. The company plans to build a mile-tall version of the elevator for demonstration before moving on to the real thing, NBCNews notes.
