Historically, the urge to climb high to a safe haven may reach as far back as the trees; in the dawn of civilization, the Tower of Babel at E-Temen-An-Ki had the goal of building a tower from ground to the heavens; in 1960 Artsutanov proposed a geosynchronous centrifugally supported tether type of tower structure for supporting an electric elevator into space; in 1982 Keith Lofstrom proposed a kinetically augmented structure for lifting launch vehicles above the atmosphere,called a Launch Loop which was a continuous belt loosely driven between two pulleys, the centrifugal force of the loose belt flinging it to the fringes of the atmosphere in its journey around the pulleys; in 1985 Rod Hyde proposed a vertical tower enclosing a fountain of electromagnetically coupled beryllium disks, which he calculated could lift the combined weight of every human being on the planet up to the fringes of the atmosphere while using only the electrical energy used by the City of Los Angeles in a mere two weeks; and also in 1985 Earle Smith proposed a continuous stretchable iron belt eccentrically reaching around the planet, contacting the planetary surface (but not near the equator) and reaching geosynchronous earth orbit at its high point above the far side of the planet.

References:

Hyde, R.A., StarBridge, Silicon Valley Chapter L-5 Society lecture, 1985; and Earthbreak: Earth to Space Transportation, DS2003+, 78-92, Aug/Sept 1985

Lofstrom, K.H., The Launch Loop, L-5 NEWS, pp8-9, Aug 1982

Smith, E., The Texas and Universe Railroad, L-5 NEWS, pp9-11,1985

Cline, J.E.D., Testimony given to the National Commission on Space, Nov. 14 1985