beanstalk

plural beanstalks · alternative bean-stalk

1. The stem of a bean plant, proverbially fast-growing and tall.
2. broadlycolloquialfigurativelyA tall, slim person.
3. literatureA space elevator.

   If we don't build a Beanstalk, somebody else will—and once one is working, the number of rocket launches will drop to zero. That's the source of more than half our income.

   1979, Charles Sheffield, The Web Between the Worlds

   2 more examples

   I have never liked riding the Beanstalk. My distaste was full-blown even before the disaster to the Quito Skyhook. A cable that goes up into the sky with nothing to hold it up smells too much of magic.

   1982, Robert A[nson] Heinlein, Friday, page 1

   Space elevators proposed for the Earth require novel high-strength materials and a substantial counterweight for their implementation. The problem becomes easier for Mars. There is no available "counterweight" for a synchronous "beanstalk" but Phobos proves a substantial anchor in non-synchronous orbit. A tether extending 1456 km from Phobos could release objects into an orbit just entering the Martian atmosphere, providing a launch and recovery device for Mars Excursion Modules. Extending the "beanstalk" to a length of 5832 km would place the end at the fringes of the Martian atmosphere.

   2005 May 28, Bob Parkinson, “Partial Beanstalks for Mars Exploration”, in Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, volume 58, number 05/06, page 197