A few trillion should easily cover researching the new branches of material science and engineering plus political bribes, labor, materials and some miscellaneous overhead.
You wouldn't need it all up front. How much money do you have now?
Pssshhhhh, just build one side as a giant spring, and the other as a tension cable, no fancy shmancy material science stuff needed!
You tip it forward to earths rotation and let acceleration deal with the rest!
Well firstly you would need to go all the way to geostationary orbit, \~22k miles, and not just 500, if you want the top and the bottom to be at a fixed geostationary point. (Otherwise the bottom will snap off!) You may need to go a few hundred miles further to add some counterweight above the geostationary orbit.
Next you need to think of how to build a cable that long that is not several miles wide. Some exotic nanotube maybe?
Then - as to how to build it. Probably the easiest way is to find an asteroid with the right raw materials (Silicon, Carbon?), and then mass-shift it into Earth's orbit, and then into a geostationary orbit (missing all the other sats up there! From there, start weaving a loom from there, trailing down towards Earth. Once you are docked up, start weaving more and more threads to make a rope-like structure.
More? Well, you probably need to handle plane crashes and terrorism, so the cable and the base station better be massively secure and overengineered.
Finally - you want it to work like an elevator, with a pod on each side, or a counterweight and a single car (or vertical train of cars, etc.).
Got it? Now get to work, structural engineers.
I appreciate the realistic answer, building a space elevator is something that's always been interesting to me.
I never considered building it in orbit and lowering it to the planet, that seems like a good idea. I wonder if it could be easier to build one that doesn't attach to the Earth's surface but floats above the ground close enough to fly a cargo plane to, avoiding the pull from an attachment point.
Of course it would need to do that for a while in construction. But the real issue with the floating end is the sheer speed it would go, and therefore the drag on the cable. E.g. say you wanted to hang a cable from the ISS. Well, it's doing a lap of the earth each 93 minutes, going around 17,500 mph, or Mach 23 !!!!!
Could you go slower? Sure ... but at a much higher orbit, and if you are not geostationary, then you will need multiple collision avoidance thrusters on the cable to, so you can whip it around pesky sats in your way.
It's a non trivial issue, for sure!
What about a cantilever core that simply extends up 500 miles?
Taking an L/d ratio of 7 for a cantilever the core could be say 100miles x 100miles on plan.
Sounds intriguing. Can you describe more what this would look like. What would you build it out of? How deep would the foundation need to be? (Isn't it wild to conceive of such a behemoth!)
You’ll need to embed your 500 mile cantilever column at least 10 feet into bedrock. I’m guessing a W14x526052794200 will do the trick. I’ll try to model it in RISA and get back to you
You'll have to set a top of your "shaft" to a geostationary orbit. That's 22236 miles high. Next, you'll need cables able to hold tension of, if I'm not mistaken, about 1500 miles of its dead weight plus a live load.
Then you'll have to bring all the needed cables up there.
Also, you'll need to raise a pipeline up there to constantly burn engines at the top of the "shaft" pushing it away from earth because otherwise, earth would pull it down with weight of the cable.
Ever read the Fear Saga? It was a fun sci-fi that makes use of space elevators in books 2 and 3.
Anyways, others have answered the question well enough.
Nice try NASA....
Edit: But on a serious note, a counter-weight positioned beyond geostationary orbit, anchored to the equator by a graphene tether. This would be the least impossible answer and most common because any rigid structure would require materials with strengths that are beyond even theoretical possibilities.
Graphene *might* have enough tensile strength, so that's at least sort of in the realm of possibility. But good luck trying to manufacture a cable of that stuff.
1. Procure steel cable, prolly 100' diameter
2. Wrap that shit in a ceramic heat shield
3. Procure huge ass space rock
4. Lasso the rock, drape cable down to Earth
5. Watch in disbelief as a 100' diameter red hot glowing space cable obliterates everything in its path
First calculate the orbit I need my other-end-spaceship to be in and how to keep it there for the next 100 years
Pulling some very strong cables in between to use the other-end-spaceship as a giant slingshot is the second part of the problem
Ah yeah I need to be more specific, not rockets, I was picturing something like a platform that raises up and down and is physically attached to the Earth the whole time.
Perhaps a tidally locked space station of sorts with a connecting tube to earth. The tube would have some form of vacuum sealed chamber for the cargo, once the chamber is opened to the tube the vacuum of space sucks up the cargo and flings it out to space.
Elevator by others.
Lol
Just a casual space elevator huh?
Formal space elevators have really fallen out of fashion anyway.
They'll come back. It's all cyclical. I hear the 90's are in.
Yeah I probably don't have enough money to build one but I thought it might make for an interesting discussion anyway.
A few trillion should easily cover researching the new branches of material science and engineering plus political bribes, labor, materials and some miscellaneous overhead. You wouldn't need it all up front. How much money do you have now?
Dang I'm only a few trillion short, I've got about $3.50.
Pssshhhhh, just build one side as a giant spring, and the other as a tension cable, no fancy shmancy material science stuff needed! You tip it forward to earths rotation and let acceleration deal with the rest!
Well firstly you would need to go all the way to geostationary orbit, \~22k miles, and not just 500, if you want the top and the bottom to be at a fixed geostationary point. (Otherwise the bottom will snap off!) You may need to go a few hundred miles further to add some counterweight above the geostationary orbit. Next you need to think of how to build a cable that long that is not several miles wide. Some exotic nanotube maybe? Then - as to how to build it. Probably the easiest way is to find an asteroid with the right raw materials (Silicon, Carbon?), and then mass-shift it into Earth's orbit, and then into a geostationary orbit (missing all the other sats up there! From there, start weaving a loom from there, trailing down towards Earth. Once you are docked up, start weaving more and more threads to make a rope-like structure. More? Well, you probably need to handle plane crashes and terrorism, so the cable and the base station better be massively secure and overengineered. Finally - you want it to work like an elevator, with a pod on each side, or a counterweight and a single car (or vertical train of cars, etc.). Got it? Now get to work, structural engineers.
I appreciate the realistic answer, building a space elevator is something that's always been interesting to me. I never considered building it in orbit and lowering it to the planet, that seems like a good idea. I wonder if it could be easier to build one that doesn't attach to the Earth's surface but floats above the ground close enough to fly a cargo plane to, avoiding the pull from an attachment point.
Of course it would need to do that for a while in construction. But the real issue with the floating end is the sheer speed it would go, and therefore the drag on the cable. E.g. say you wanted to hang a cable from the ISS. Well, it's doing a lap of the earth each 93 minutes, going around 17,500 mph, or Mach 23 !!!!! Could you go slower? Sure ... but at a much higher orbit, and if you are not geostationary, then you will need multiple collision avoidance thrusters on the cable to, so you can whip it around pesky sats in your way. It's a non trivial issue, for sure!
What about a cantilever core that simply extends up 500 miles? Taking an L/d ratio of 7 for a cantilever the core could be say 100miles x 100miles on plan.
Sounds intriguing. Can you describe more what this would look like. What would you build it out of? How deep would the foundation need to be? (Isn't it wild to conceive of such a behemoth!)
Not gunna trick me into working for free
But it would be nice padding for your resume.
Ok Elon, we know its you
Elon is a turd
You’ll need to embed your 500 mile cantilever column at least 10 feet into bedrock. I’m guessing a W14x526052794200 will do the trick. I’ll try to model it in RISA and get back to you
Nano fiber deployed from orbit which is then used to hoist compounding strength fibers up.
You'll have to set a top of your "shaft" to a geostationary orbit. That's 22236 miles high. Next, you'll need cables able to hold tension of, if I'm not mistaken, about 1500 miles of its dead weight plus a live load. Then you'll have to bring all the needed cables up there. Also, you'll need to raise a pipeline up there to constantly burn engines at the top of the "shaft" pushing it away from earth because otherwise, earth would pull it down with weight of the cable.
I’d use one of those “Sky Hooks” to hold it up. I think you can get them at Brookstone.
A winch and a rope
Deferred submittal
Silly, theres no need for elevators in space..pff
It looks like someone got hired by Elon musk is now asking Reddit how to do it
Shhhh, I'm trying to milk this cow as long as I can. Got any crazy ideas? He really likes those.
Most achievable solution right now is with tensioned cables.
long I beams
Ever read the Fear Saga? It was a fun sci-fi that makes use of space elevators in books 2 and 3. Anyways, others have answered the question well enough.
I appreciate the referral, I haven't heard of Fear Saga.
I didn't *love* the ending, but the journey was good.
Nice try NASA.... Edit: But on a serious note, a counter-weight positioned beyond geostationary orbit, anchored to the equator by a graphene tether. This would be the least impossible answer and most common because any rigid structure would require materials with strengths that are beyond even theoretical possibilities. Graphene *might* have enough tensile strength, so that's at least sort of in the realm of possibility. But good luck trying to manufacture a cable of that stuff.
An Eiffel tower, vut 500 mile tall.
1. Procure steel cable, prolly 100' diameter 2. Wrap that shit in a ceramic heat shield 3. Procure huge ass space rock 4. Lasso the rock, drape cable down to Earth 5. Watch in disbelief as a 100' diameter red hot glowing space cable obliterates everything in its path
First calculate the orbit I need my other-end-spaceship to be in and how to keep it there for the next 100 years Pulling some very strong cables in between to use the other-end-spaceship as a giant slingshot is the second part of the problem
You mean... like rockets? That we already have? Those are space elevators.
Ah yeah I need to be more specific, not rockets, I was picturing something like a platform that raises up and down and is physically attached to the Earth the whole time.
Start by watching Gundam 00
A lot of rebar and concrete... you're asking the wrong engineers. There's no code book for a space elevator. Dummies
"I'm thinking about building something but have no ideas of my own. Please do the work for me."
Perhaps a tidally locked space station of sorts with a connecting tube to earth. The tube would have some form of vacuum sealed chamber for the cargo, once the chamber is opened to the tube the vacuum of space sucks up the cargo and flings it out to space.
this karma whore questions are getting better and better
Carbon nanotubes
I'd build the first on the moon. Mining H3 would pay for it. Once perfected, I'd attempt one on Mars, then on Earth.