The untapered, dynamic space elevator cable (was Seth Potter: SBSP $

>> Moving cable space elevators are just elegant from an
>> engineering viewpoint. They take cargo and people to
>> GEO for 15 cents a kg in energy cost. If only we had
>> the cable
>
> Is it a tapered cable?

No. Constant diameter. If you have to taper the rig, you use pulleys
to increase the number of strands.

Keith

Perhaps a dynamic untapered cable could be moved by a static tapered
cascade of solar- or nuclear- powered motors, each supported by its
own static tapered cable. In that scenario, no given portion of the
untapered dynamic cable would ever be very far from another
motor-support providing vertical support.