Space Elevator
2050 UNVIC Formed
Space ship development had become a regular industry. The United Nations created the United Nations Vehicle Interaction Control aka UNVIC. It’s scope was to control all solar system traffic and if given by a sovereign nation, be able to provide control to all opted terrestrial traffic including planes in the air, cars and trains on the ground and all underground traffic. Terrestrial control was given over to UNVIC by the USA, Canada, Europe (all countries in the continent), India and Russia in the first wave, in order to improve economic efficiency. Many African countries also surrendered control as part of UN development plans.
2053 Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira Space Elevator built
NASA worked with Brazil to develop the Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira space elevator, using ‘diamond-tube’ carbon technology. Its position on the equator was key to the space elevator working with the result of slashing the cost of getting into space. The top of the elevator had the control centre called Operations, which become known as Ops El or Ops for short. It is also referred as the space lift.
2057 UNVIC space clean-up program began
UNVIC eventually cleared orbit of all items not wanted to be there including tiny flecks of paint, mopped up by very large spheres of specialised gel.
2062 The ‘Americas’ continental Magnevac train was built
The Magvac train was an underground vacuumed, sealed tunnel with maglev trains. It reached 800kph and could take a passenger from Toronto to Washington in an hour. The Express train only had Toronto, Washington, Mexico City, Guatemala, Tegucigalpa, Managua, San Jose, Panama, Bogota and Rio de Janeiro as its stops. As it treated each country’s capital with equal billing, it made the project a building success, despite the massive costs, although this service was mostly used by politicians and tourists. The venture was made a commercial success as the real purpose was get the lucrative contracts to take freight to the Sao Gabriel space junction.
2077 The Asteroid ‘Thompson-Chow’ Fire
Asteroid ‘Thompson-Chow’ passed so close to Ops that it wobbled, causing cracks in the structure. It was also slammed into by fragments, causing the highest building fire in human history. The space elevator was repaired in an amazing three months, although never again fully trusted by the general public.
2079 National block elevators added
With growing demand, seven new lifts were built in a way that allowed each of them to support each other and the original. In a brilliant engineering move, they were built as vertical vac trains making OPS just another destination. Although officially controlled by UNVIC, The North America Block (excludes Mexico), The South America Block (includes Mexico and Australia and New Zealand), Europe, Russia, China, India and the UN each queued traffic for their sponsored lift. Although each block sold rights to use it, Russia was particularly skilled in funnelling Central (Middle East) and African trade.
2085 Orbital terminal available for use
A later modification to the Space Elevator removed the need for the trains to stop at Ops, allowing them to in effect fire themselves into low earth orbit and be collected by spaceships, greatly relieving UNVIC of the Ops logistical hurdle. Cargo began to be maintained in low orbit and the platform warehouses became a tourist village with hotels, which funded an orbital hospital for those with conditions best served without the effect of gravity.
2087 Humanitarian Alliance as Global Government
Moon bases are becoming more substantial and fall under a new umbrella organisation that unifies the UN, AU and all other bodies into a single military alliance called the Humanitarian Alliance.