Artist rendering of Space Elevator. (Image courtesy of Japan Space Elevator Association.)The space elevator concept relies on tethering an object to the ground and letting the rotation of the earth keep it up. Way up. Over 20 miles up.
The “elevators,” or climbing pods, would ride up and down the tether, taking cargo and people from the earth’s surface through the atmosphere and into the realm of near-zero gravity. From there, the payloads and people could launch into deep space to colonize other planets, mine for minerals—or snap some awesome selfies.
Talk about a lofty goal.
The space elevator concept has been around for over a hundred years and was more recently popularized by the venerable Arthur C. Clarke in Fountains of Paradise. However, it continues to be a dream.
But for every sci-fi reader who has twirled a weight around his or her head to mimic the seemingly simple concept of a space elevator and wondered why not, there may be an engineer shaking his or her head because that isn’t how it works.
Why an Elevator?
Leading the most recent initiative to bring the space elevator to life is Shuichi Ohno, chairman of the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA). Ohno, who presented at SOLIDWORKS World 2016, leads with what he considers the compelling economic reason for the space elevator. Rockets are such a waste, he said.
“If we are going to travel to space on a regular basis, we need a reliable and economic form of transportation,” said Ohno. “Anywhere from 75-90 percent of the weight of a rocket is consumed by fuel. Physics places a limit on how efficient a rocket can be, so we cannot rely on them as transportation.”
“But if we have a space elevator, we can travel to geosynchronous orbit or high-earth orbit relatively economically,” Ohno added. “If we were to build a space station there, flights to more distant destinations like Mars can be launched without having to overcome the gravitational pull of the earth.”
http://www.engineersrule.com/aiming-high-will-we-ever-see-a-space-elevator/Interesting read.
In my opinion the engineering is different but not really tougher than engineering a rocket launch to mars and land a craft within a target area using a system of parachutes, rockets, and winches.
However as with many of these things, I think they're far more likely to come into being on mars or the moon or something.