SETI bioastro: Arthur C. Clarke on the Space Elevator

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"Today’s communications satellites demonstrate how an object can remain
poised over a fixed spot on the Equator by matching its speed to the turning
Earth, 22,300 miles (35,780 km) below. Now imagine a cable linking the
satellite to the ground. Payloads could be hoisted up it by purely
mechanical means, reaching orbit without any use of rocket power. The cost
of launching payloads into orbit could be reduced to a tiny fraction of
today’s costs.

"The space elevator was the central theme in my 1978 science-fiction novel
The Fountains of Paradise (soon to be a Hollywood movie). When I wrote it, I
considered it little more than a fascinating thought experiment. At that
time, the only material from which it could be built — diamond — was not
readily available in sufficient megaton quantities. This situation has now
changed, with the discovery of the third form of carbon, C60, and its
relatives, the Buckminsterfullerenes. If these can be mass-produced,
building a space elevator would be a completely viable engineering
proposition."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1794500,00.html

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