Space elevators in fiction

This is a list of occurrences of space elevators in fiction. Some depictions were made before the space elevator concept became fully established.

Novels and Fairy tales

* "The Fountains of Paradise", novel by Arthur C. Clarke. This novel is primarily about the construction of a space elevator on a mountain top on Earth in a fictional island nation.
* "", novel by Arthur C. Clarke. The possibility of a space elevator is realised after a groundbreaking discovery that Jupiter's core (now in fragments around the orbit of Lucifer) had been a solid diamond; as the hardest substance in nature, suddenly available in vast quantities, it facilitates the construction of a solid elevator rather than the more common tether structure previously envisaged
* "", novel by Arthur C. Clarke. In this novel, a ring habitat now exists around the Earth that is connected to the surface via four, solid-diamond space elevators
* "Songs of Distant Earth", novel by Arthur C. Clarke. The name 'space elevator' is not used in this book and the device used is not suitable for transporting humans. Instead, a kind of very strong cable is used to pull massive blocks of ice up to a spaceship in orbit around a fictitious planet from its surface
* "Sunstorm", novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
* "Across the Sea of Suns", novel by Gregory Benford
* "Across the Sea of Stars", novel by ?
* "Assassin Gambit", novel by William Forstchen
* "Chasm City", novel by Alastair Reynolds
* "City of Heaven", novel by Tom Terry depicts a terrorist attach aboard a space elevator
* "Coyote Frontier", novel by Allen Steele
* "Deepsix", novel by Jack McDevitt. The remains of a space elevator are found on a doomed planet
* "Feersum Endjinn", novel by Iain M. Banks
* "Foreigner", novel by Robert J. Sawyer
* "Friday", novel by Robert A. Heinlein
* "", novel by Eric S. Nylund. Features the UNSC Centennial Orbital Elevator in Havana, Cuba.
* "Hothouse", novel by Brian Aldiss
* "Earth and Space", novel by Sapan Desai
* "Jack and the Beanstalk", fairy tale. Due to this story about a plant that grows up into the sky, another name for a space elevator has been coined: 'beanstalk'.
* "Jack and the Skyhook", children's book by Damien Broderick
* "Jumping Off the Planet", novel by David Gerrold
* "The Mars Trilogy", a series of novels ("Red Mars", "Green Mars", and "Blue Mars") by Kim Stanley Robinson, depicts space elevators on Earth and on Mars whose cables are made of carbon nanotube which are manufactured on an asteroid, and lowered into the atmosphere, using the asteroid as a counterweight. "Red Mars" depicts what happens when the cable is cut at the asteroid anchor point
* "Mercury", novel by Ben Bova about a space elevator sabotage that gets an innocent man exiled from Earth
* "Old Man's War", novel by John Scalzi
* "Rainbow Mars", novel by Larry Niven with 'beanstalks' on Mars and Earth
* "Strata", one of Terry Pratchett's two solely science-fiction novels
* "The Science of Discworld", by Terry Pratchett, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart, in which Roundworld humanity escapes to the stars via an elevator
* "Sundiver", novel by David Brin
* "Sometimes The Dragon Wins", novel by William Walling
* "The Descent of Anansi", novel by Steven Barnes and Larry Niven (ISBN 0-8125-1292-8)
* "The End of the Empire", novel by Alexis A. Gilliland
* "The Night's Dawn Trilogy", novels by Peter F. Hamilton
* "The Web Between the Worlds", novel by Charles Sheffield
* "Zavtra Nastupit Vechnost" ("Tomorrow The Eternity Will Come"), novel by Russian sci-fi writer Alexander Gromov
* "Zmeyonysh" ("Young Snake"), novella by the same author
* "Zastryat v Lifte" ("To Struck in The Elevator"), short story by Russian sci-fi writer Dmitry Tarabanov. In this technical love-story, the sabotage of the first space elevator, built by LiftPort Group and named after Yuri Artsutanov, is described
* "Metaplanetary" and "Superluminal", novels by science fiction writer (as opposed to comic creator) Tony Daniel

Anime, Comics, and Manga

* 21st Century Fox, web comic by Scott Kellogg, depicts attempt to build a proof of concept space elevator.
* Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, anime series, contains a skyhook throughout the series.
* Battle Angel Alita, the floating city of Tiphares/Zalem is actually the bottom end of one of two space elevators, each located on the opposite ends of the world and joined by an orbital ring. Its sister city Ketheres/Jeru is at the opposite end of the elevator.
*The third episode of Cyber City Oedo 808 features a space elevator that criminal turned cop Benten rides to investigate a murder.
* Eureka Seven features a starship linked to the Earth's capital by a space elevator.
* Dicebox, web comic, "Ch.5". The space elevator, a shimmering thread against the sky, was "obsolete years before we were born", but still a tourist attraction.
* Dirty Pair "Project Eden", anime, a James Bond-like pre-title sequence is set in a climber-car on a space elevator, one such that leads to an orbital ring habitat about an un-named planet. It and the ring are destroyed by the end of the heroines' visit (but not their fault!).
* Hammer Locke, DC Comics limited series, features a space elevator under construction in mid-21st century Africa.
* Kiddy Grade, anime series, in which a space elevator combined with an Orbital Ring structure is used on most populated planets.
* In , space elevators are used as spaceports for easier traveling between the Earth and a full colonized Moon.
* Legend of the Galactic Heroes, anime series, depicts a space elevator in the planet Phezzan.
* In "Mobile Suit Gundam 00", all the superpowers have a space elevator (Permanent Orbital Station) of their own, linked to a Solar Power Satellite array used to harness solar energy for their use. They play a critical plot role.
* Nemesis the Warlock, comic strip by Pat Mills, book 4 "The Gothic Empire".
* Orguss Features a conflict over a space elevator
* Outlaw Star, anime series, episode 14 "Final Countdown", features the problem of a falling elevator due to a terrorist attack.
* Starship Operators, anime series, episode 5 "Great Escape", briefly depicts an orbital elevator ride on a fictitious planet.
* Tekkaman, anime series, depicts six "orbital elevators" located throughout Earth and locked in space by a orbital ring structure. Every episode deals with the space elevators.
* Turn A Gundam, anime series, depicts an ancient hypersonic skyhook which has been maintained operationally by nanomachines over thousands of years. An ancient mass driver is also used for transporting space-vessels from earth's surface to the skyhook.
* , anime series, contains an orbital elevator early in the series, and then is the focus of the end, where someone is trying to destroy the counterweights to make the elevator collapse. Intriguing use of emergency counterweights depicted.

Video games

* 2300 AD, role-playing game by Game Designers' Workshop
* From Software's "Armored Core 2" and "" feature space elevators named "Rapture" above both Earth and Mars.
* and Sid Meier's Civilization IV, strategy computer game, as a Wonder of the World.
* , Colonel Bahamut takes the Alien Cell to the top of his personal Space Elevator with plans of using its power for world domination.
* Freelancer, a space elevator transports small ships from orbit to the surface of planets.
* , videogame by Squaresoft, features the Orbital Elevator "A.T.L.A.S.".
* Halo 2 and Halo 3, video games by Bungie Studios, depict a space elevator in New Mombasa, Kenya in the year 2552. The elevator is toppled during the First Battle of Earth in Halo 2, and its ruins are encountered during operations in the Battle of Voi (Second Battle of Earth) in Halo 3.
* Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, strategy computer game, allows players to build a "Secret Project" entitled the "Space Elevator".
* Syndicate Wars, a videogame by Bullfrog Productions, featured an "orbital elevator" which was actually a lunar space elevator.
* The Moment of Silence, an adventure computer game by "The Adventure Company", lets you ride a space elevator based in New York City.
* Transhuman Space, role-playing game by Steve Jackson Games. In this setting, a first space elevator had been built on Mars and the second one, on Earth, is on the way.
* Mega Man X8, Action game by Capcom. An Orbital Elevator known as "Jakob" is used to transport people to the moon.
*Independence War or I-War, a space simulation game by Particle Systems Ltd. A multiple tether space elevator is shown in the introduction movie when President King is transported into space aboard a crawler.
* Namco Bandai's RPG series "Xenosaga" features a gigantic space station in orbit above Federation capital planet of Fifth Jeruselam. "" reveals that the station is tethered to the ground by a space elevator.

Movies and TV series

* , a CG movie featuring an orbital "tree" comparable with a space elevator.
* Mystery Science Theater 3000, television series, Dr. Clayton Forrester attaches a tether to the Satellite of Love called the "Umbilicus", turning the SOL into a space elevator. In subsequent episodes, experiments would be sent up the umbilicus for the show's weekly "Invention exchange" skit. It is suggested that the Umbilicus is an extension of Gypsy's hoselike body.
* "", episode "Rise"

Others

* Globus Cassus, a proposed Terraforming project that uses four space elevators during its construction.
* Star Wars: , a multimedia project, features a skyhook in orbit around Coruscant. More such skyhooks are mentioned in other Star Wars stories.
*In the GURPS Transhuman Space Roleplaying game source book about Mars in the year 2100, [http://www.sjgames.com/transhuman/inthewell/ In The Well] , they have placed a completed orbital elevator (Beanstalk) on Pavonis Mons, linked to Deimos. There is also a beanstalk beginning construction on Mt. Kenya.
*The board game, Buck Rogers - Battle for the 25th Century (1988) featured a space elevator connecting the Mars territory of Pavonis to the Far Mars Orbit and the moon, Deimus.
* Jovian Chronicles, a Role-playing game by Dream Pod 9, includes the wreckage of a Martian space elevator. The elevator was destroyed by terrorists in the published scenario included with the original release of the setting. The wreckage created the "'Vator Crater", a long canyon running along the Martian equator.