"I'm a little confused here. As I understand it, the primary use for elevator technology is to make orbital insertion more economical. I don't see the connection between that, protection from cosmic radiation, and cruising speed in space flight."
Methinks faster than mewrites. :) Radiation is a big problem in space, as well as micrometeorites both of which are a race against time. A shuttle launch exhausts nearly the entire fuel supply, and it is expensive, leaving little fuel for the longest stretch of flight making it a very long trip to Mars (for example). The best solution seems to establish permanent cargo lifts into orbit to facilitate a space industry. Like you said, there may be mining opportunities for various materials (gases from Jupiter, and metals from other places). There is also plentiful solar radiation, we could maser it down to the Earth from orbital collectors. I think we could eventually set up a chain of reactors into nearer Sun orbit that will undergo various processing that is too energy consumptive to expore here on Earth. Thinking, processing metals, perhaps reforming molecular structures that hold massive energy potential (aluminum is one, but we could 'cook' up better I'm sure). So we could use them on Earth, lift the cargo to a launching orbit, pass it into another orbit(s) that take it through processing again to recharge after depleted. VERY cool stuff.
