[extropy-chat] Space elevator numbers III

[Keith Henson]

At 06:26 AM 2/15/2007 +0100, Eugen wrote:

snip

>I think a terrestrial elevator is extremely more demanding, both
>because of the scale, and of the issues (satellites) you mention.

Agreed.

>A single launch or a couple is enough to put the required
>aramide mass into lunar orbit (don't know about the
>counterweight). The point is whether a linear motor launcher
>at the north pole (built in place, of course) is easier.

Sigh.  You need to dig into Tom Heppenheimer's 30+ year old technical work 
on achromatic orbits.  What are you going to launch and where are you going 
to launch it too?  And how are you going to collect it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._A._Heppenheimer

>The idea is to bootstrap the Lunar pole infrastructure
>by teleoperation and largely local resources, achieving
>self-replication closure of unity or above with minimal
>terrestrial launches. We know that once you're in LEO
>Moon surface is about half a year away with plasma thrusters,
>which can't be beat as far as propulsion mass is concerned.
>Being able to soft-land some 100 kg from a 300 kg LEO
>package puts the costs down.

> > building up an entire space industry and building SPS out of lunar
> > materials.  But that's already been judged as too risky simply because of
> > the huge number of steps to making a profit from selling power.
>
>Power alone is not alone a motivator, since this leaves you
>with a teleoperated industry basis which can grow exponentially.

To do what?

Keith