NOT EXACTLY A CABLE
The ribbon on which the climbers travel
will be made of carbon nanotubes embedded
in polymer. The foot-long, half-inch-wide
sample stretched across the frame above is
one-hundredth as strong as the ribbon needs to be.
“The problem is the matrix, not the nanotubes,”
says Edwards. “The carbon-carbon bond
in the nanotubes themselves is the strongest
bond in nature.”