Japanese company Obayashi Corporation still plans to create an elevator-tower that brings you directly into space by 2050.
https://video.nostr.build/185e876d0f5a16b6fa42d1b53c0e0cf9d83aa95fc4da8818f65cc5b2a8f25592.mp4
#bullishbounty
Discussion
Sounds like a very bad idea.
There is space debris orbiting our planet.
Is it just beneath that?
Even then still horrible idea outside of a fever dream.
Good luck not inducing an extreme voltage dragging a cable through the global electromagnetic field. (~400v/m^2)
A natural voltage building along the cable sounds like a plus, not a minus. Drive something with the voltage. But what about the Coriolis force during fast ascent?
In theory, you'd only be able to build such a cable at or near the equator, for that reason. Some suggest anchoring it with an asteroid or something in geostationary orbit or slightly above to keep it taught without having to extend it out super far.
The center of gravity of a space elevator has to be slightly above GEO and designs typically extend very far out as that's the most efficient way to get tons of lift from little material **and** you can keep climbing that cable beyond GEO to get extra speed from that gigantic whip.
You'd probably have to make it out of a non-conductive material. Also one strong enough to withstand the tension forces. We don't know how to make such a material yet, is the problem.
There are right now materials that would resist the tensile stress of a cable hanging from space but no material known to man could resist the compressive stress of an actual tower.
that was my first thought
what is this cable made from?
https://www.obayashi.co.jp/en/news/detail/the_space_elevator_construction_concept.html looks like a Space Elevator design which is not a tower in the classical sense. You'd have to build it top down, not bottom up.