*LIO Fellow Arthur Clarke Space Elevator Discussed

www.arthurcclarke.net/ …the 2001 author  proposed many things from communication satellites on… for placement by taxless national trusts or space companies. More here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104847/Space-elevator-takes-tourists-22k-miles-orbit-built-40-years.html

Satomi Katsuyama, the project’s creator, said: ‘Humans have long adored high towers. But rather than building it from the earth, we will construct it from the space.’

THE VISIONS OF ARTHUR C CLARKE

Plans fora space elevator echo the visions of science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke.

The creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey, who died in 2008, imagined this in his 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise.

The British writer, pictured below at his office in Sri Lanka, has made other outlandish predictions that came true.

 

In 1945 he famously wrote an article in Wireless World predicting that, one day, it would be possible to use satellites in fixed ‘geostationary’ orbits, 23,000 miles above the Earth, as in effect giant radio masts, allowing radio, telephony and television signals to be relayed from any point on the planet to another.

Although this was a dozen years before the first satellite would be launched, Clarke had come up with the idea for worldwide satellite broadcast.

Dr Obayashi is confident her plan will work, although admits that the locations of the construction and who would pay for it are still unknown.

Previous suggestions have included using a platform in the ocean off Ecuador as a station on Earth because this is near the equator and closer to the orbit.

Dr Obayashi is just days away from completing work on Japan’s tallest structure, the Tokyo Sky Tree, which will stand 2,080 feet tall.

The tower will serve as a digital broadcasting antenna as well as a sightseeing attraction that allows uninterrupted views of the Japanese capital and beyond.

‘We were inspired by construction of Sky Tree,’ which will open for business in May, she said. ‘Our experts on construction, climate, wind patterns, design, they say it’s possible.’

When Obayashi is not drawing up plans to conquer space it works on a number of projects from building corporate headquarters, bridges and power plants to renovating ancient temples.

Among its portfolio are the Dubai Metro in United Arab Emirates, Universal Studios Osaka, Japan, and Stadium Australia, which was used for the Sydney Olympics.

If realised the space elevators could become another of the outlandish predictions by Clarke, who died in 2008, to become reality.

In 1945, Clarke made perhaps his most famous and accurate prediction.

He wrote an article in Wireless World predicting that, one day, it would be possible to use satellites in fixed ‘geostationary’ orbits, 23,000 miles above the Earth, as in effect giant radio masts, allowing radio, telephony and television signals to be relayed from any point on the planet to another.

Although this was a dozen years before the first satellite…Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104847/Space-elevator-takes-tourists-22k-miles-orbit-built-40-years.html#ixzz1n8l9QKTM

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