> And the space elevator is not something that would be developed by interplanetary travelers but by people who just want to get into Earth orbit. That's not t

> And the space elevator is not something that would be developed by interplanetary travelers but by people who just want to get into Earth orbit. That's not true at all. The vast majority of the energy cost of going to another planet is incurred just getting into earth orbit. A space elevator radically improves the economics of interplanetary travel. In fact, you can get certain transfer orbits "for free" by just extending your tether a bit beyond geosynchronous orbit and using it to fling bulk payloads to Mars, etc.