In the not too distant future, cheap and reliable space travel may soon become a reality.

For orbital travel of a space shuttle, it currently costs up to $500 million per trip; and $10,000 per pound for unmanned payloads. Even though space travel is quite expensive, there is however an alternative option in which science fiction describes as the stairway to heaven. Technology limits our accessibility to creating this cheaper and more reliable alternative; however, the physics prove that it is truly possible (Hoffman 2004). Introducing the Space Elevator, space transportation cable system which connects the earths surface to the geostationary earth orbit located approximately 35,786 kilometres in altitude. The design of a space elevator typically involves a base station, a ribbon-like cable, climbers and a counterweight. Two concepts for a base station were established, mobile and stationary. Mobile base stations are large oceangoing vessels which have the advantages of manoeuvring in order to avoid storms, high winds and space debris. Stationary base stations are high-altitude land-based stations which have the advantages of reducing the cables strength-to-density ratio requirements. The ribbon-like cable is connected from the base station to the counterweight, and is the primary component of the space elevator. The ribbon will likely be designed and manufactured from strings of carbon nanotubes held together by an epoxy matrix (Pelt 2009). The cable must be capable of carrying its own weight and the weight of the climber, thus a cable with a very high strength-todensity ratio is required. Subsequently, carbon nanotubes are the latest materials that meet these requirements; though, further research and technological improvement in manufacturing are still needed. Climbers act as elevators where the payload is held. There are a wide range of proposed designs for climbers, which also depend on whether the cable is stationary or moving. A popular concept is the elevator design, where the use of a pair of rollers can hold the friction on the cable.