Space Elevators and Other Alternatives

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I do not understand how the conservation of momentum would allow the space elevator to work. But I would like to see the elevator happen. To me it seems the safest and least expensive of the alternatives - even if each elevator would need rockets to accelerate to sixteen or seventeen thousand miles per hour until it reaches the station.

 

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To actually return to the topic at hand, I believe there are a few problems that need to be resolved before a space elevator can come to be. The space elevator is dependent on a very long cable, one side connected to Earth and one side connected to a station in orbit. This tether would have to be 24,000 miles long. Should it ever snap, a cable that long could do some serious damage on Earth. Radiation exposure for travelers passing through the Van Allen radiation belt is another concern. Also, space debris and micrometeors could damage the tether. Orbital objects that are not in sync and below the maximum altitude of the cable would eventually collide with it. And finally, the materials desired for the tether have not been discovered yet.

I think the tether would have to be attached to a heafty space station 62000 miles out well beyond geosynchronous orbit. I think it should be strong enough so that each elevator could carry fuel to accelerate it (if necessary to compensate for the angular momentum problem) from about 1000 miles per hour at the surface to about 16000 miles/hour by the time it gets to the space station - about a four day journey.

I also think there are a lot of smart people in the world to make this possible.
I think the world community (this time) needs as many ways to access space as we can think of. There are a lot of threats out there as well as opportunities.

It seems like there has been a lot of babeling over the love of money for this and that. Yet ever since the space race it seems like there has been a big decline in the great inventions, replaced by a lot of the cheap inventions for the quick, easy money.

(I was just trying to think of an example when just now my son's friend called and asked him to come skate-boarding. It seemed like an act of God, so I'll use it in place of examples I thought would be better. Skate-boarding seems insane. These kids think they are doing tricks that are impossible. They get broken arms, legs and one of my son's friends got hit and killed by a car. I think they spend more hours than it takes to get a phd in physics.)

I would not be surprised if our pursuit of space would again bring together the great minds resulting not only in success with the elevator, but in solutions in everything from the kitchen to healthcare. I would not be surprised if the space elevator could be the motivation to bring us out of this recession.