Space Elevator

Big John wrote:
Scientist Sees Space Elevator in 15 Years

By CARL HARTMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) wants to return to the
moon and put a man on Mars. But scientist Bradley C. Edwards has an
idea that's really out of this world: an elevator that climbs 62,000
miles into space.


The space elevator concept is "discovered" by all the non-SF-reading
journalists about once per decade. Hey, isn't the sunspot cycle
11 years long? Hmm.....

My favorite variation was describe in (IIRC) Scientific American
a while back. Rather than being attached to the ground, this
elevator would rotate in orbit like a huge two-armed windmill.
As one end descended into the upper atmosphere, about 50,000 ft
AGL, an aircraft would dock with the free end (hey, if they can
catch falling satellites...) and be hauled up into space. This
variant has the advantages needing no ground facilities, avoiding
terrestrial storms, and the capability of serving many different
points on the globe.