Skyhook (structure) - in Fiction

In Fiction

A form of hard-structure subsonic skyhook was constructed during the events of Jack McDevitt's novel Deepsix.

In the anime Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, the three main protagonists arrive at the series' climactic battle with Galatea in Earth orbit by commandeering a skyhook transit system.

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.

In the Star Wars expanded universe, skyhooks are common above Coruscant. They are frequently private retreats owned by corporations or wealthy individuals.

In the LucasArts video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed a skyhook is being constructed on the planet Kashyyyk.

The planet of Tara K. Harper's Grey Ones series features a number of skyhook stations. The tethers are apparently no longer functioning, but large terminal structures still exist. They are used as a plot device, as ferrous weapons are impossible to use near the structures due to their intense magnetic fields.

A skyhook figures prominently in Arthur C. Clarke's posthumous novel The Last Theorem, which he co-wrote with Frederik Pohl. The novel describes the skyhook as a means of interplanetary travel rather than simply a means to reach orbit. It is used as a means of transport by athletes and delegates to the "first-ever lunar Olympics".

The construction of skyhooks, including a space elevator and several other orbital devices for launching craft into orbit and interplanetary travel, as well as decelerating and capturing craft on arrival, is a central theme in the science fiction novel The Barsoom Project, the second book in the Dream Park series, by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. The destructive potential of a falling skyhook is also explored, and the potential for this to be exploited by terrorists.

In the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sequel by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Willy Wonka mentions in passing that the titular elevator flies by skyhooks. He is not, however, referring to such a device as described in this article or indeed to any specific device; he is merely giving a deliberately absurd answer to a question to avoid giving a real one. Insofar as any basis for the elevator's propulsion can be discerned - the book is, after all, a work of children's fantasy - it appears to fly by some combination of rockets and an unstated magical principle.