In
the 1970s, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that you would read this review. It was
all a matter of science and he was one of the best at putting the “s” in “sf.” Recently,
Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs opened with
Clarke outlandish prophecy personal computers would one day become commonplace
and now a new documentary prominently features Clarke’s conception of a space
elevator and the 1979 novel The Fountains
of Paradise in which they reshape our world. Of course, his predictions
regarding computers have already come to pass, but the space elevator’s time
has not yet come. Miguel Drake-McLaughlin & Jonny Leahan profile the
scientists and entrepreneurs trying to realize the not-impossible space
elevator dream in Sky Line (trailer here), premiering at
this year’s DOC NYC.
Sky Line does a super job explaining
the space elevator idea for layman, which in itself is probably a significant
contribution to the discourse. Essentially, it is like a tether ball. Some kind
of node is attached to the terra firma by an enormous chord that becomes taut
due to the Earth’s rotation. In theory, we should be able to zip cargo and
space vessels up that line much more economically than by using dirty old
rockets. The problem is we do not quite have strong enough material for the
cable yet, but we are close.
The
space elevator seems tantalizingly doable, but NASA has not exactly taken a
leadership role in its development. It has largely been left to private
academic and entrepreneurial concerns. Some of the various space elevator proponents
share what could be described as a friendly rivalry, whereas others clearly do
not. Michael Laine, the founder of LiftPort seems to a real feather-ruffler,
but he certainly put his money where his mouth was. He is also probably the
film’s best interview subject.
There
is a lot of interesting science made understandable in Sky Line, but probably the coolest stuff in the film are the
excerpts from the abridged Fountains of
Paradise LP read by Clarke himself and all the striking retro Chesley
Bonestell-style concept art. Unfortunately, the film suffers from the lack of a
clear dramatic arc, but there is not a lot Drake-McLaughlin and Leahan could do
about that, short of rolling up their sleeves and brainstorming a breakthrough
in carbon nanotube technology.
