The Space Elevator is a system to lift payloads of equipment, raw materials, supplies and even people above earth’s gravity and into space without the need for rocket technology. Today’s nanotechnology, composite manufacturing, laser, and photovoltaic technology makes this not only a possibility, but a very likely reality for the near future – at least within ten years. Hundreds of students and scientists at over one hundred colleges and universities around the world are working on different components that would go into a real Space Elevator.