This could make a major cost reduction in space flights by helping navigate the difficult first 50 kilometers (31 miles) of travel that traditionally requires rockets. Thoth Technology has been granted both US and UK patent for the elevator, which is pneumatically pressurized and actively-guided over its base. Thoth says its space elevator would take 30 percent less energy, because no expulsion mass is required against gravity. The elevator cars can be powered electrically or inductively, the inventors said. Thoth’s president and CEO, Caroline Roberts, said space travel, coupled with self-landing rocket technologies being developed by other companies, will bring a new era of space transportation. It’s estimated that in three to five years a 1.5 kilometer prototype model – full-scale model – could be accomplished.
