There's only one it's-the-future-why-don't-we-have-x trope that rivals the flying car, and that's the space elevator. (First proposed in 1895, it might even predate it.) The idea of a giant tower that can carry us from Earth to outer space is legend, and it probably will be for a long time. But a company has successfully Kickstarted what they say is their first step to building one on the Moon.

At $8,000, the project from LiftPort Group wasn't going to get us an elevator right away, even if as of writing the team has raised more than $15,000. Instead it's funding an early, related project: sending a robot two kilometers up via a cable and building a test platform of high-altitude balloons that are tethered to the ground. It's not a stretch to think they'll able to reach that goal, since they pretty much already have. LiftPort Group went out of business in 2007, but before that the team made it only a quarter of a mile shy of that distance. This is more of a team rebuilding exercise.