Orbital Elevators (was Re: Non-combat craft)

>For really big orbital facilities, you might want to
>consider a beanstalk system.  Have the entire
>Geostationary orbit be occupied by a gigantic
>space station with beanstalks for quick cargo shipping
>to the planet.
>
>How much should a Beanstalk cost?  A 6" FT elevator
>from ground to space.	 

Actually, it would be longer than 6". The 6" orbital radius in More
Thrust
would be Low Earth Orbit, LEO, not Geostationary Earth Orbit, GEO, which
is much higher up.

To deliver troops, cargo, or orbital bombardment, LEO is the place to
be.
It's the 90 minute (roughly) orbit used by the Space Shuttle, and most
of 
the sattelites out there. Someone postulated on the list that a FT turn
was roughly 15 minutes long, so the 'orbit' given in MT has to be a LEO
orbit. Given this timeframe, GEO would be represented simply by ships
coming to a stop some distance above the planet.

To get back on topic, a beanstalk or orbital elevator would probably be
longer than 3", but as the cable itself is a very small thing, what
would
be best represented on the table would be the terminus/transfer space
station at the top end of the cable. That would have the boat bays,
defences, cargo holds etc, and possibly dock ships as well as act as the
top end of the elevator.

(For a good discussion of orbital elevators, read any of the Mars books
by
Kim Stanley Robinson, especially the first two, "Red Mars" and "Green
Mars" (They're great books anyway))

Speaking also of giant planet-ringing stations, did anyone see that
Luna-ringing space station/dockyard in "Starshit Troopers"? Horrible
movie, but some of the space scenes were good, esp. the stations...

Just my $0.02 (Canadian, therefor worth about half a cent Yank...) :)

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)