Originally shared by David Brin
Thoth Technology Inc. has been granted both US and UK patents for an inflatable tower designed to take astronauts up into the stratosphere, so they can then be propelled into space. A freestanding structure complete with an electrical elevator up to a 20km (12.5 miles) high launch platform. In other words in all ways precisely the design that I described in my novel SUNDIVER. (Anyone remember the Vanilla Needle? One difference. Mine was big enough that balloons could use buoyancy in the high pressure space to lift cargoes most of the way.)
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/17/space-elevator-thothx-tower
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