I'll probably be long gone before this is built, but I found it interesting that Japan is going to try to build a space elevator. For those folks not familiar with "Space Elevators", they've been a staple in Science Fiction stories for some years ... basically a satellite in geosynchronous orbit tethered to a base station on earth (probably in the middle of the ocean, in case the tethers decide to fall ... ). Cargo would be moved up to orbit at a fraction of the launch cost ... or so the theory goes.

It is nice that a few countries are still thinking about exploration, and expanding horizons ... makes it a much more interesting world! Read more about the space elevator at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4799369.ece.