Do you want to take a stroll in space? Wait for a while---only until 2050. Then you can take a plane to Japan. A construction company called Obayashi is planning to launch a space elevator by the middle of the century. It will be able to transport astronauts as well as cargo, at a small cost, less than the expense of space shuttles.

Imagine where you can go---maybe even for a date---in an elevator that would create a dynamic space travel, and make it cheaper to travel 60,000 kilometres. One "climber" made by the Japanese would easily be able to transport 30 passengers into space, the company has promised, according to ABC news.

In fact, space would become radically different, as would international economic parameters. You need not even say goodbye completely to cars. Robotic cars will drive you there, with "magnetic linear motors," according to abc.net. You can travel there in a week.

The sophisticated development of carbon nanotube technology is helping the experts to realise their dreams. Yoji Ishikawa, a research scientist, said that "The tensile strength is almost a hundred times stronger than steel cable so it's possible." He agreed that it isn't possible to achieve it immediately. They can achieve only nanotubes that are 3 cm in length. The team is targeting 2030 to come closer to the unthinkable.

For that, Obayashi has teamed with the University of Japan to develop carbon nanotubes and get the people who can erect them. If it succeeds, the expense would come down, including the cost of sending materials into space. This idea is a brainwave that has been hit by Japanese universities participating in competitions. A Kanagawa University team is pooling ideas and efforts with the Obayashi team to develop robotic cars or climbers. Right now, the cost is worked out at $22,000 per kilogram to transport cargo into space. The space elevator will bring down the expense even lower, to $200! Now doesn't that give you a great opportunity to get there?

The working of the space elevators is fairly interesting. Small "climbers" will transport materials along the nanotubes to remote spots of the earth, so that the rotational energy would exceed the magnetic gravity of the earth. Even if someone walks out of the top of the space elevator he would get into a geostationary orbit. But take care that you don't do it---not till things are clear, anyway.

The entire process will change the manner in which we look at space. Professor Tadashi Egami told abc.net that the height and gravity will differ, and so will the tension on the cable. "We're studying what mechanisms are needed in order to ascend at differing altitudes and the best brake system," Mr Egami said.