> " ... LADDER currently is planned to be executed in a single Discovery class mission, starting with the delivery of 11,000 kg of Zylon HM fiber plus associated equipment to the L1 Lagrange site."

It wouldn't need so much exotic fiber if the micro-g portions of the elevator were made instead out of metal. Rocket fuel-tanks are made out of metal, so there's a convenient source of supply for building materials.

Couldn't agree more. Now if we just had the in-space manufacturing capability to melt down a fuel tank and change the alloy to something more ductile and then draw the threads to make the cable and then twist a cable. Shouldn't take more than a couple of million times the mass that it would be replacing.
Mitch

> " ... LADDER currently is planned to be executed in a single Discovery class mission, starting with the delivery of 11,000 kg of Zylon HM fiber plus associated equipment to the L1 Lagrange site."

It wouldn't need so much exotic fiber if the micro-g portions of the elevator were made instead out of metal. Rocket fuel-tanks are made out of metal, so there's a convenient source of supply for building materials.