Beanstalk Stories

SF has been blessed with many cool ideas that double as exciting settings for dramatic stories. One relatively rich vein for these stories is the Space Elevator (or Beanstalk, or Skyhook) which has been used to propel some great fiction. Here's some of them.

Short stories

• "Swarmer, Skimmer" by Gregory Benford (Carr's Best SF 11 - 1981)
• "Glory Days" by Jack McDevitt (F&SF Aug 1994)
• "Flight Correction" by Ken Wharton (Analog Mar 2002)

Novels

• 1979 The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (building one)
• 1979 The Web Between the Worlds by Charles Sheffield (building one)
• 1980 Sundiver by David Brin (in the backstory)
• 1982 Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
• 1984 Across the Sea of Suns by Gregory Benford (skyhook)
• 1986 The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky by John Barnes (skyhook near the end)
• 1988 Tower To The Sky by Phillip C. Jennings
• 1992 Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
• 1992 Timemaster by Robert L. Forward (on another planet)
• 1993 Celestis by Paul Park
• 1994 Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks
• 1995 Kaleidoscope Century by John Barnes
• 1996 The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
• 1997 The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton
• 1999 Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven
• 1999 The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton
• 2000 Jumping Off the Planet by David Gerrold
• 2001 Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
• 2003 Singularity Sky by Charles Stross

Glossary

From GSV Three Minds in a Can on usenet

My understanding is that a 'skyhook' is a rotating beanstalk, which doesn't touch the ground - something with 2 or more arms, which dip into the gravity well as it rotates ... you leap off the ground, grab an arm, and get dragged up into the sky, where (at an appropriate point) you let go. The reverse for getting back down.. [more]

Lift Ring or Ring Around the World

From Scott Beeler on usenet

That brings to mind a wonderful vision of a vast series of beanstalks like bicycle spokes around the Earth's equator, supporting a continuous-band space habitat ringed round the planet. [This shows up near the end of The Fountains of Paradise]

Here's a good article from wired about Seattle company, Highlift Systems' plan. Dr. Bradley Edwards and Eric Westling recently relased a book called The Space Elevator which has alot of detail -- this sucker's pretty fully worked out.