A competition has just launched in the Mojave Desert for teams planning to build an elevator to space… yes you read that correctly.

For the next couple of days Space Elevator Games will see robotic machines climbing a 1km high cable (held by a helicopter) and will be powered by laser beams.

The idea is that if this can be achieved, the technology could develop into a fully fledged Space Elevator like that in Arthur C. Clarke's "The Fountains of Paradise."

If a space elevator could one day be attached to a mass in geosynchronous orbit, it would offer much cheaper space travel than rockets… and give Starbucks somewhere else to open a branch.