Radiation is only a minor concern, astronauts in the space station experience similar radiation doses. I assume if it's cheaper to get things into orbit [with t

Radiation is only a minor concern, astronauts in the space station experience similar radiation doses. I assume if it's cheaper to get things into orbit [with the elevator], it's also cheaper to shield the entire contraption. Climbing isn't much of a concern either, they've already run a bunch of tests and NASA has already awarded their prizes out for the challenge. The real issue is mass producing the carbon nanotubes. It's like saying "Warp drive is possible" then saying all you need to do is build a ship that can manipulate the fabric of spacetime. Well of course that's all you need to do. Sure, producing carbon nanotubes is easy. I've seen them make the it in a lab. It's making the tubes to spec and making thousands of miles of the stuff that is the hurdle. It's the equivalent of asking computer engineers in the 60s to mass produce 22nm CPUs with billions of transistors. Can it be done? Sure. In about 50 years.