The idea was first proposed in 1895 by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky after he saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and was revisited nearly a century later in a novel by Arthur C Clarke.
There are four basic elements of a space elevator.
- The base station and anchor.
- The counterweight and orbital space station.
- The tether (the cable that connects the surface to space).
- The climber (the elevator carriage).
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