The possibility of a space elevator was first explored by the Russian physicist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who was intrigued by the building of the Eiffel Tower in the 1880s.
The possibility of a space elevator was first explored by the Russian physicist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who was intrigued by the building of the Eiffel Tower in the 1880s. If engineers could build such a magnificent structure, he asked himself, why not keep going and extend one into outer space? Using simple physics, he was able to show that, in principle, if the tower was long enough, then centrifugal force would be sufficient to keep it upright, without any external force. Just as a ball on a string does not fall to the floor because of its spin, a space elevator would be kept from collapsing by the centrifugal force of the spinning Earth.
The notion that perhaps rockets were not the only way to enter space was radical and exciting. But there was an immediate roadblock. The stress on space elevator cables might reach one hundred gigapascals of tension, which exceeds the breaking point of steel, which is two gigapascals. Steel cables would snap, and the space elevator would come tumbling down.
