Sky ladder.

I'm reading "CHINA REVEALS PLANS TO COLONISE SPACE WITH A MARS BASE, CARGO FLEETS, ALIEN CITIES, AND A ‘SKY LADDER’" (Independent):

The notion of a “sky ladder” or corresponding space elevator has been considered by humans since 1895, when it leapt from the brain of Russian space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky... Engineers would first assemble an enormous space station, and then drop cables down to the Earth that would be fixed on the equator – as it would be impossible to build in the United States or Europe. Unfortunately, a cable that is both long enough, and strong enough, to maintain its integrity is yet to be invented. Once that has been overcome, however, it is likely that the cost of travelling into space would fall by over 99 per cent, with equipment and personnel travelling relatively simply between planets.

That was published on the 25th. I'm seeing it today because I googled "sky ladder," the name of a documentary we happened to watch last night. It was featured on my Netflix home page, but it came out in 2016: "Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang."

... Sky Ladder is a 1,650-foot-tall ladder, held aloft by a giant balloon and rigged with explosives. As the massive sculpture ignites, it creates a fiery vision that miraculously ascends to the heavens.

I'm quoting a review at ArtNet. You can judge for yourself whether a ladder-shaped concatenation of fireworks held up by a hot air balloon looks miraculous. It's not as miraculous as a space elevator made of materials not yet invented. 

The Chinese government looms large throughout the film. As a child during the Cultural Revolution, Cai helped his father, [an] artist and bookseller who spent most of his salary buying his own [wares], burn the vast majority of the family’s library. Cai is perhaps best-known for the spectacular firework show he created for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but there are some who question his willingness to collaborate with an authoritarian regime.... [T]here’s also Cai’s disappointing involvement with the government’s 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Conference. The filmmakers sat in on meetings where the artist’s vision was severely compromised by government officials....

The government official says — to quote the subtitles — "I'm telling you, the government is here to help you... You have to figure out something creative with all these chains on you... Mao taught us to be practical and realistic.... We'll support you only when you follow the rules." 

And the artist works with them — works on what is bombastic propaganda for the Chinese government. 

The movie mostly offered up Cai as a great artist, but it also gave us plenty of reason to think he was more of a con artist. In that light, it was tantalizing that — to me, at least — he looked so much like Obama.

NOTE: The "sky ladder" topic is — by chance — a continuation of yesterday's Tower of Babel theme.