NASA Tests New Rocket Engine in Mojave Desert

A space elevator is the only reasonable way to power human exploration and colonization.

Everything else is learning how to fly by strapping big springs to your boots: it just doesn't scale.

Luckily a lunar elevator is much easier and more managable. It is achievable with today's materials. The main benefits of building a lunar elevator are two-fold:

1) the system engineering learning in the process would be invaluable.

2) Lunar material could be used to make an earth elevator.

This is why I'm so excited about the recent developments in lunar vehicles. It's actually much more important than anything else NASA does.