In article , says...
It would be possible to build a space elevator using materials available
today without any major new technology. But that wouldn't be economical.
Not even remotely close to being economical. New materials would be
needed to build a sane space elevator, but new physics isn't needed.

See for instance
http://space.nss.org/media/2000-Spac...A-CP210429.pdf


I recall reading at least some analyses that said that the tensile
strength required exceeded atomic forces (in other words, an
impossibly strong material).

Without having checked, I would guess that that applies for a non
tapered cable. But if you taper the cable, it is physically possible to
build a cable using several existing materials.


That's my understanding as well. Better materials would make a tapered
cable practical. Today's materials result in a very huge tapered cable
necessitating a huge counterweight making the whole thing impractical.

So, we're arguing about impossible versus impractical here. Either way,
it's not going to be built with today's materials.

Jeff
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