Elevator to the Stars
Elevator to the Stars (English original title The Fountains of Paradise , published 1979) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke . The action takes place in the 22nd century and describes the construction of a space elevator . This "orbital tower" is a gigantic structure that extends from the ground to a satellite in a geostationary orbit at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometers. Such a structure can be used to transport payloads into orbit without having to resort to rocket engines , and would therefore be significantly more cost-effective than the previous technology.
action
As an introduction to the novel, Clarke uses the life story of the historical King Kalidasa , who preceded the adventures of the engineer Vannevar Morgan on his sure-footed path to the realization of the space elevator as a distant shadow. Further storylines of the novel deal with the human settlement of the solar system and a first contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial life form . In the book, Clarke also hypothesizes that the emergence of religion in humans is a consequence of their sexual reproduction . The venue for the elevator to the stars is the fictional island state of Taprobane , which Clarke describes as "about ninety percent congruent with the island of Ceylon (today Sri Lanka )". The ruins of the palace of Yakkagala described in the book are modeled very closely on the actual ruins in Sigiriya in Sri Lanka.
To make the construction of the space elevator possible in his novel, Clarke devised a microscopic but very strong monofiber. Although, according to the novel, this fiber consists of a "continuous, pseudo-one-dimensional diamond crystal ", Clarke later expressed his view that another type of carbon in the form of a Buckminster fulleren would one day play the role of its monofiber in a future space elevator. Against the background of recent developments in the manufacture of carbon nanotubes , the technology for building a space elevator now appears to be quite realistic.
The epilogue of the novel finally shows the reader an earth with several space elevators, which are connected to each other by a space station that spans the world in the truest sense of the word and encloses the planet at the height of the geostationary orbit. Here, the similarity to a wheel becomes clear: the space station itself is the tire, the earth is the axis and the six space lifts evenly distributed on the equator represent the spokes.
Relationships with other works of the author
- In the middle of the book, an unmanned robotic probe of extraterrestrial origin passes through the solar system. The situation is very similar to the encounter with Rama , although the probe differs significantly in its appearance and in its interaction with people.
- The first third of the novel 3001 - The Last Odyssey describes in detail the interior of a circular space station that spans the world and is connected to the earth by four space lifts. This corresponds very closely to the representation in the epilogue of Elevator to the Stars , even if there are six elevators there.
- In the book's epilogue, the earth has turned into an ice desert as the sun has cooled. This corresponds to the plot of Clarke's short story History Lesson .
- The alien that the reader encounters at the end of the book is a physically somewhat more tangible form of the swarm that pays a visit to prehistoric earth in the short story The Possessed .
Awards
- 1979: Nebula Award for Best Novel
- 1980: Hugo Award for Best Novel
literature
- Arthur C. Clarke: The Fountains of Paradise . Victor Gollancz, London 1979, ISBN 0-575-02520-4 . (English original edition)
- Arthur C. Clarke: Elevator to the Stars . Moewig, Rastatt 1979, ISBN 3-8118-0173-2 . (German first edition)