Mining the Sky & Space Tethers to achieve LEO

I came up with the idea pretty much independantly too about 15 years
ago when I first read about the giant ballons concept.

I only attributed them to you because yours is the only story I know
of where the idea was used.

Bill

--- In spacesettlers@egroups.com, "Mike Combs" wrote:
> --- In spacesettlers@egroups.com, "bill t" wrote:
> > >
> > To get above the atmosphere. Build a mountain 10km high. This
sounds
> > ludicrous, but it is feasible. The second method is the one Mike
> Combs
> > came up with. Use Buckministers giant balloons as support. I like
> that
> > method myself, but its a lot of ballons (over 3000).
>
> I just wanted to mention that I did not invent this idea. I pinched
> it from the "Wildcards" chapter of Gerard O'Neill's "2081: A Hopeful
> View of the Human Future". Also, I've corresponded with a
> physicist/inventor who claims that he had the idea before O'Neill
did.