I recall two other configurations for space elevators other than a straight cable from equator to 2xGeoSynchronous orbit, one is a giant hoop rotating such that at the surface of Earth, it's almost stationary so you can hitch a ride, actual speed would be about 1000 miles/hour around the hoop; the second is a straight cable rotating similarly to the hoop so you could hitch a ride as the end slowly aproaches the equator.
Hoyt Stearns Scottsdale, Arizona US -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:26 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Vo]:In the foodsteps of Jules Verne Jouni Valkonen <[email protected]> wrote: I think that the biggest problem with Space Elevator is that it is too slow. I takes quite a lot of time to climb into geosynchronous orbit. Edwards and Westling (p. 49) say the first generation climbers should go 200 km/h. They have to go 100,000 km to reach the counterweight. But to get to the terminal at 36,000 km that would take 7.5 days. That would be tedious for people but not an issue for freight. I expect much faster climbers would soon be possible, reducing the trip to ~3 days, which is less time than it used to cross the U.S. by train. It is not a big deal. The weight of the initial ribbon would be 40 tons. Two rockets could lift it, in two sections. ...
