not at all
politics
Jump to date
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
space elevator would be a 20-year focused construction project, likely in Indonesia/Philippines and would need a fuckton of money
the lift vehicle itself isn't that fancy, you really are just tethering to a 'chain' and climbing up, it's not meant to be fast
theoretical weight limits using carbon materials we have today are reasonable enough to be worth doing
and once it's done once, it's trivial to upgrade
Equator
you either want it at the equator or at the pole
can't get huge shipping vessels to the poles
we'd just buy an island from Indoenisa/Philpipines to do it
and it would be international anyway
even if America owns it
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
it's perfect
now, despite how important the equator is, I'm not sure what the degree offset cost is in terms of station-keeping
being a few degrees off might not matter that much if we can essentially refuel the space segment at will
but anything in the mainland US is a non-starter
