Japan’s Elevator From Earth to Low Orbit Space

“For over a century scientists and sci-fi writers alike have dreamed of creating a space elevator to ferry astronauts and payloads between the Earth and low orbit,” Jason Daley of Smithsonian Magazine writes. Now, Japanese scientists will make a step toward such a futuristic development. Two satellites—roughly four cubic inches—will test elevator motion in space, as they launch with a 33-foot steel cable binding them, …

An Elevator That Goes Every Which Way

ThyssenKrupp’s Multi won’t be your average elevator beholden to a life of ups and downs. To debut soon in a Berlin residential tower, the Multi forgoes cables for strong magnetic levitation (the same technology found in high-speed trains). This means that the elevator cars will float along hoistway guide rails in all directions—even diagonally. They aren’t going to be super-fast—moving (at a reliable 1,000 to …