This isn't bonkers at all. It'll be absolutely necessary if we want to do anything significant in space at a reasonable cost per kilogram. For example, if you

This isn't bonkers at all. It'll be absolutely necessary if we want to do anything significant in space at a reasonable cost per kilogram. For example, if you are an entrepreneur and take on the challenge to build a robot to mine an asteroid, you can't raise $200M and then fold the company when you fail on your first attempt. BTW some NASA engineers came up with this idea awhile ago and called it the Star Tram. There is a book about it.