This is from Wikipedia
> Using the density and tensile strength of steel, and assuming
> a diameter of 1 cm at ground level, yields a diameter of several
> hundred kilometers at geostationary orbit height, showing that
> steel, and indeed most materials used in present day engineering,
> are unsuitable for building a space elevator.
I don't know enought to correct it, but it seems awfully
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:> Using the density and tensile strength of steel, and assuming
> a diameter of 1 cm at ground level, yields a diameter of several
> hundred kilometers at geostationary orbit height, showing that
> steel, and indeed most materials used in present day engineering,
> are unsuitable for building a space elevator.
Earth-centric. Natural perhaps but still...
Also, this statement caught my untrained eye:
Chemical energy storage (batteries, fuel cells or internal
combustion engines) will not work- hydrogen/Oxygen is the chemical
fuel with the best energy/mass ratio, but will not lift its own
weight all the way to GEO.
rick jones