International Space Elevator

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For the penultimate campaign mission of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, see Lighthouse.

"The ocean of stars in our galaxy is finally within our reach... The universe lies ahead of us, waiting to be discovered. And now, at last, we have a gateway to ascend to it. Over and over again."
― Kei Nagase[3]

The International Space Elevator,[a] colloquially nicknamed "the Lighthouse",[b] is a space elevator located next to Selatapura in Gunther Bay, Usea.[1] The space elevator is controlled by a public company called ISEV[4] and—prior to the end of the Second Continental War—was defended by two Arsenal Bird aerial warships.[5]

Osean Federation President Vincent Harling proposed the International Space Elevator as a collaborative peacekeeping effort with Usean countries. While its primary role is that of a space elevator, its secondary role is to transmit solar energy collected in the upper atmosphere and distribute it to power plants on Earth's surface. This energy is used to help Usea's reconstruction following the damage from Ulysses 1994XF04's impact that continues to plague the continent.[4]

In 2019, the Kingdom of Erusea captured the space elevator and declared war on Osea, believing that Osea aimed to use Lighthouse to take control of the Usean continent.[4]

Design

Lighthouse's cables reaching into space past the Main Shaft
Lighthouse's blueprints

The International Space Elevator is 100,000 km (62,000 mi) long from the base on Earth to the top of its cables in space, making it by far the tallest structure on the planet.[5] The structure is connected to Selatapura by a long bridge that leads into the main entrance. From there, anyone entering the space elevator must pass through a Medical Quarantine Area before gaining access to the passenger elevator, the living quarters, or the main elevator. The main elevator—the central pillar that connects to space via cables—is surrounded by a Main Shaft supporting the structure on Earth. At the bottom of the main shaft are two horizontal shafts that connect to several Posture Control Systems.[6] The base of the elevator houses a large subterreanean geofront chamber, which is connected to Selatapura by several undersea tunnels.[3]

Satellites with solar panels in geosynchronous orbit collect solar energy and convert it into microwaves. These satellites then transmit microwaves to the space elevator, which sends the microwaves to the surface of Earth. Power facilities underneath the space elevator's central base distribute the collected energy to Usean countries.[4]

History

Ulysses Impact Event

Main article: Ulysses 1994XF04, Continental War, or G7 Summit

Ulysses 1994XF04 caused massive damage to Usea after its planetfall in July 1999, killing over half a million civilians and turning countless others into refugees in only two weeks.[7][8] Usea's infrastructure was severely affected, especially Erusea's; the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs said in 2003 that "our land suffered the most damage and chaos of the entire continent."[9] The ensuing refugee crisis led to the 2003–2005 Continental War, further ravaging the continent.[10]

In 2008, Osea invited Central Usea and Erusea's new provisional government to the G7 Summit on the Arkbird. Among other topics, their representatives discussed solutions to Usea's ongoing refugee crisis and remaining damage from Ulysses. Osea helped the FCU and Erusea reach agreements to collaborate on these issues.[11]

Proposal and construction

Lighthouse at sunset

By the mid-2010s, Usea's infrastructure still hadn't recovered from the Ulysses impacts. To solve the issue, Osean President Vincent Harling (also in office during the G7 Summit) offered to jointly develop a space elevator in the Usean continent. As a leader in space development, Osea would cover the initial investment costs and supply the technology to build the structure. Its solar power production would provide much-needed energy to help reconstruction efforts across the continent. With the exception of Erusea, who protested its construction,[12] Usean countries welcomed the proposal and began to build the space elevator at Selatapura in Gunther Bay given its ideal proximity to the equator and utilizing the submerged Ulysses asteroid fragment impact crater 20 km off the shore as the construction base.[13] Construction officially began in 2011. At the time, it was the largest joint international project since the Ulysses impact.[4]

In January 2013, the first cable transportation rocket was launched from Comona. Utilizing a laser beam emitted from the ground, a construction ship built low Earth orbit circled the earth while rising under magnetoplasmodynamic propulsion. By May, it reached geostationary Earth orbit, and the cable in space and on the surface began extending towards one another.[12]

As construction continued, Erusea and neighouring nations became increasingly frustrated by the environmental damage being caused to the Gunther region, which Erusea still claimed. Mass protests that called for ties with Osea to be severed occurred in Erusea, resulting in clashes between protestors and IUN peacekeeping forces. A group of nationalistic officers even called for war and managed to convince the King of Erusea that Osea intended to use the International Space Elevator to seize power in Usea.[14]

On August 21, 2018, Our Science posted an article which discussed the space elevator's construction.[12]

Further speculation arose in some political circles that Osea was aiming to use the space elevator to take control of the Usean continent, similar to the Spring Sea Treaty situation that led to the Usean coup d'état. Erusea's officials in particular harbored animosity towards Osea.[4]

At some point, the Arsenal Birds, massive 1,100 m (3,600 ft) wide aerial warships, were constructed to provide a semi-permanent defense system for the space elevator, which was believed to be a potential target for terrorism. With an unlimited station-keeping time and an air defense radius of 1,200 km (750 mi), the Arsenal Birds provided significant defense to the space elevator.[15]

Lighthouse War

Main article: Lighthouse War
OBC reports on Erusea's capture of the International Space Elevator

In May 2019, after years of tension and before the space elevator was fully completed, Erusea declared war on Osea and captured the space elevator. Erusea and its allies aimed to fight Osea's excessive interference and resource monopoly in Usea.[4] Consequently, Erusea also gained control of the Arsenal Birds.[16]

On June 6, the IUN attempted to rescue former President Harling, who was trapped behind Erusean lines at the space elevator. During the operation, Gargoyle Squadron, under secret orders from the IUN Peacekeeping Force headquarters, attempted to damage the space elevator to cut power transmission to the Arsenal Birds. Seeing this, Harling began flying his MV-22 towards the space elevator to try to defend it but was shot down and killed by an Erusean aircraft utilizing a false Osean IFF.[2]

On September 19, Osean forces captured the Erusean capital of Farbanti and conducted an operation that caused the destruction of numerous satellites,[17] causing a civil war in Erusea as its military split between radical and conservative factions.[18] The radicals would ultimately relocate to the International Space Elevator and fortified their position with the remaining Arsenal Bird.[19] Sometime after espacing Tyler Island, a number of 444th Air Base personnel accompanied by Spare Squadron and Erusean Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise arrived at the space elevator.[20]

On October 31, a coalition of conservative Erusean forces and Osean military engaged the Erusean radicals around the space elevator. After the coalition managed to shoot down Arsenal Bird Justice with the help of Princess Cossette, the Erusean radicals surrendered. However, as the princess was parachuting down from the space elevator, two ADF-11F Raven UCAVs attacked coalition forces.[19]

Hugin and Munin at the space elevator

On November 1, coalition forces returned to eliminate the drones. One drone flew through the undersea tunnel to the space elevator in an attempt to transmit its flight data, but Trigger and Count pursued it and managed to shoot it down before it could do so. As Trigger exitied the space elevator's windbreak, the spaceship Pilgrim 1 returned from their voyage to the asteroid belt, which had begun in 2012, and became the first to dock with the space elevator.[3]

Postwar

In December, a refugee camp for displaced Useans was constructed at the base of the International Space Elevator following the war's conclusion.[21] The bridge connecting the space elevator to Selatapura was packed with vehicles transporting refugees and many volunteered to help. Additionally, Yuktobania and a number of other nations also airdropped more relief supplies.[22]

ISEV

The International Space Elevator Corporation[22] (ISEV) is a public company that controls the space elevator.[23] The company name is an abbreviation of the structure's official name: International Space EleVator. The company's logo depicts the base of the space elevator.

Gallery

Trivia

  • The base of the International Space Elevator appears to resemble a smaller-scale X-Seed 4000, a hyper-tall building conceptualized by Peter Neville in 1995 for Japan, proposed to be the tallest building in the world.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ International Space Elevator (国際軌道エレベーター)[4]
  2. ↑ Lighthouse (灯台)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://youtu.be/ReHVAlEU3UQ
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mission 04: "Rescue", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mission 20: "Dark Blue", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 "「エースコンバット7」，ストーリーの導入部や最新スクリーンショットなどが公開。UGSFシリーズとの関連も明らかに" ["Ace Combat 7 story introduction and latest screenshots have been released. A clear connection to UGSF"]. 4gamer.net. Published on 21 June 2018. Retrieved on 21 June 2018.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 『エースコンバット7』開発陣インタビュー完全版！　「3つの軸を追求します」. Famitsu. Published December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ File:International Space Elevator Blueprints.jpg.
  7. ↑ Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies - Perfect Guide, page 007.
  8. ↑ World / Asteroid Ulysses Enters the Atmosphere, AC04Web. Published 2001. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  9. ↑ War?
  10. ↑ Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies.
  11. ↑ Arkbird Declaration: Summit 2008.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Usea Reconstruction: Space Elevator Nearing Completion
  13. ↑ Aces At War: A History 2019, page 99.
  14. ↑ Aces At War: A History 2019, page 76.
  15. ↑ Aces At War: A History 2019, page 82.
  16. ↑ Mission 03: "Two-pronged Strategy", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  17. ↑ Mission 15: "Battle for Farbanti", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  18. ↑ Mission 16: "Last Hope", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Mission 19: "Lighthouse", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  20. ↑ Cutscene 15: "Admiral Andersen", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  21. ↑ Cutscene 16: "The New System", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Aces At War: A History 2019, page 127.
  23. ↑ "「エースコンバット7」，ストーリーの導入部や最新スクリーンショットなどが公開。UGSFシリーズとの関連も明らかに" ["Ace Combat 7 story introduction and latest screenshots have been released. A clear connection to UGSF"]. 4gamer.net. Published on 21 June 2018. Retrieved on 21 June 2018.
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