The United States space agency, Nasa, has described the idea of building a space lift as 'audacious and outrageous'.
Such infrastructure reminds one of the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk, in which some magic beans sprout a monster beanstalk that soars into the sky.
The concept of a structure reaching into space dates back to 1895. Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris to conceive of a free-standing structure that reaches from the surface of the Earth to a geostationary orbit, at an altitude of 35,790km above sea level. A 'celestial castle' would be at the top of the proposed tower. From that platform, objects could be launched into orbit without using a rocket.
The idea evolved under the guidance of many scientists and engineers, until 1979, when the concept was spread to a wider audience by the simultaneous publication of novels by science-fiction authors Arthur C. Clarke and Charles Sheffield.
In Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise, engineers build a space lift on top of a mountain in the fictional country of Taprobane. The author, who died in March last year, predicted a space lift would be built 'about 10 years after everyone stops laughing' and would make space shuttles obsolete.
Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds envisages a load-bearing cable, or 'beanstalk', stretching from Earth to a geostationary orbit.