4 ms·
My understanding of the biggest challenge is that each point in the cable must be strong enough to carry the weight of all the cable beneath it, which by the ti
by jrcii 11y ago
My understanding of the biggest challenge is that each point in the cable must be strong enough to carry the weight of all the cable beneath it, which by the time you reach the upper atmosphere would be tremendous even using carbon nanotubes. The cable would also be perpetually struck and damaged by high velocity micrometeoroids.
- icebraining 11y agoCould one use a counter-weight, as in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars?
- Fargren 11y agoCan't you have multiple stages with multiple cables? I guess acceleration and deacceleration between stages could be costly, though.
- ajmurmann 11y agoWhat do you connect your stages to other than the next stage?
- Fargren 11y agoI would imagine the cabin could stop halfway, were it would attach to some magnetic or mechanic lock system. There it would detach from it's cable and be attached to another one that would pull it out the rest of the way. Actually, the first cable could be the lock system; you just have to keep it attached until you setup the second one.