The Truth About Google X: A Look Behind The Secretive Lab's Closed Doors
They hit the same wall everyone else who's ever looked at space elevators hit: the cable materials aren't currently feasible.<p>What else did Google do around this?  Did they go about designing the elevator apparatus itself?  Did they devise plans for launching the cable/tether into orbit?  Did they explore options for what would anchor the tether in space?  Without any further details on this "project", it's as good as a lunchtime spitballing session any one of us might have had recently.  One might as well say I've also tried to design a space elevator.