The Lunar Space Elevator, a Near Term Means to Reduce Cost of Lunar Access Forum: Spacesettlers
Thread: The Lunar Space Elevator, a Near Term Means to Reduce Cost of Lunar Access
# 13976 bywlm_efn@... on Oct. 10, 2018, 11:37 a.m.
Member since 2021-10-03
No it can't, not without a minimum tensile strength to mass ratio. Otherwisethe cable would have a mass larger than the earth.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_tensile_strength#Typical_tensile_strengthsThat's the case with steel or any other common materials. About the bestmaterial available today is dyneema with a tensile strength of 3.68 GPa and0.97 g/cm3. I did a run on the computer and at get a mass of 40 billion tons.Dyneema costs about $628/kg wholesale.40 billion tons, cost: 25 trillion. Yes, it could be built.