Robot Climbing to Space. 100,000 km to go.

The privately held LiftPort Group Inc. made one of it's milestones in its quest to build a space elevator. A robot has successfully climbed up a 1,000 ft long 'rope' to a teathered baloon. The rope was actually an ultra strong carbon nano-tube ribbon that will eventually be stretched from a platform in the pacific ocean to 100,000km above earth. Robots would then navigate up and down this "elevator" delivering objects (and eventually people) to outer space.

The test was run on a test robot named "Sword Over Damocles." "The belt-driven robot is battery-powered, featuring two motors and an expanded cargo area due to increased intelligence built into the device, he said."

The next goal for the company is the 1 mile marker.

Of course, if you're just dying to build your own space elevator 'bot, you can sign up for NASA's "Elevator 2010" Annual Space Elevator Games. This year's games take place in October 2005, in Mountain View, CA. Grand prize is $50,000. Not too shabby.