Plans to build a tower to space means we could one day use it as an elevator to leave Earth

Traveling up a few floors in a busy lift can sometimes feel like an eternity, but we could actually be blasted off to space that way in the near future.

Roal Dahl’s vision of a great glass elevator that catapults to the stars could one day become a reality thanks to a Japanese engineering company.

Forget SpaceX, Obayashi Corporation - who are known for building the Tokyo Skytree, the world’s tallest tower - are taking on the challenge of building a new tower that could reach out as far as Mars.

The tower will stretch out into space where tourists can travel to the moon and beyond (Obayashi Corporation)

Instead of taking nine months to reach the Red Planet in a rocket, the space elevator could get us there in just 40 days.

Much like a cruise terminal, there will be an Earth Port docked in the sea, with a visitor’s center nearby.

The port will float at the equator around 10km away from the center which will be connected by an underwater tunnel.

A counterweight will sit at the other end of the elevator in space to keep the cable in place.

From the port, space tourists will be able to travel to the moon, Mars and beyond for some galactic sightseeing.

Construction is planned to begin next year and it's estimated to take at least 25 years and around $100 billion to build.

But one of the biggest problems facing the space elevator right now isn’t the cost, it’s finding all the materials needed to make it.

The company is yet to determine what they will make the cable out of that will be used to tether each port to one another but there is not enough steel in the world to use for the project.

Another option could be for the engineers to make a new material entirely but that will take some work to design and construct.

The Earth Port will float on the sea at the equator where people can board the elevator to space (Obayashi Corporation)

Another factor that could be a roadblock for the space elevator is earthbound weather.

Poking out from the ground all the way into space, the tower will need to withstand the elements, and workers are thinking of how things like tornadoes, monsoons, hurricanes and even lightning could damage it.

It’s early days and the company is hoping to raise funds and gain partnerships from different industries to make it a reality.

It’s looking like 2050 will be the earliest date that the new mode of space travel will be up and running so you’ve still got plenty of time to think up some elevator small talk for the journey.