Scientist Bradley Carl Edwards envisions an elevator that could carry people and cargo from a platform in the Pacific Ocean 62,000 miles up to a satellite in outer space. The idea may be science fiction today, but a small branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration located in downtown Atlanta thinks it might work – just give it a few decades. “This is a little out there,” Edwards admits. “NASA usually likes to fund things that are already developed.” The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts picks the top research ideas that simply aren’t possible with today’s technology – and it tries to do them anyway.