If the first space elevator is making a profit after the second year of operations the investors will be even more confident.  The directors can then decide whether to expand or not.

Trains are best for long journeys between cities.

There may be a place for electric bikes within cities.  People will have to be certain that the batteries will not go flat.  A 10 mile commute needs say 30 to 40 miles between charges. 

The safety results rely on most people not using their bicycles.

CNT with sufficient strength to make the space elevator does not exist at the moment.

If you wish to build a cheap way of getting into space starting in the next 2 years produce a  prototype Aerovator with 10 GPa glass fibre able to launch 2 metric tons.  Start with a model 100 m across to debug the equipment which can then be filmed to show investors and customers.

Write a plan showing:
1.Where you are going to get the money.
2.Possible build locations including political control.
3.Prepare a list of possible customers.
4.Prepare detailed technical and management plans.
5.Plan and produce the working model.
6.Draw up a list of suppliers for the prototype - glass fibre, motors/aircraft and base.
7.How much you are going to pay Andreas Windemut for his idea.

CNT may not be sufficiently strong to make a space elevator but Kevlar and its rivals can be made into a rotating tether.

I believe that Aggregated Diamond Nanorods have the strength to make a 100km tall tower that the tether can sit on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregated_diamond_nanorods

Then there is Windemut's machine.

Magnesium can be extracted by melting the Mars rocks and electrolysis.  The power source would probably be sun light.  Mirrors can be used to concentrate the sunlight on to the crucible to melt the ore and onto the solar cells to generate the electricity.  Distillation may form part of the refining process.  Fortunately efficient is a relative term.

Wickman Spacecraft & Propulsion Company is working on a jet engine able to work on Mars.  This would simplify moving around the planet and may permit the matching of speed with a space tether.
http://www.space-rockets.com/marsjet.html

For fuel the motor uses magnesium and carbon dioxide as the oxidising agent.

The parts of a climber robot able to top up the balloons will need designing.  The final design will need to know the exact shape of the ribbon.

They soon will.  Until then the the food will be cooked by the sexy stewardess in her miniskirt.


There is plenty of electrical energy to power the oven.  The oven + kettle + tv + lights stc. only come to about 10% of the power used by the motor.

The parabolic mirror may be useful on other types of spaceships.

The full oxide of carbon is carbon dioxide with carbon monoxide there is a free bond.

Pure graphene
C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C

C-C-C-C-C-O gap  O-C-C-C-C-C
with oxide

It is not.  That is what the "Opps" means.

Unfortunately since air had density it has weight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density_of_air

At standard ambient temperature and pressure (25 °C and 100 kPa), dry air has a density of ρ_SATP = 1.168 kg/m3.

This means that every cubic metre weights 1.168 kg, more if you increase the pressure.  Putting a big tower on top of it will cause a big increase in pressure.

A man made space mountain could have an electric mountain train to lift cargoes to the top.  Place a rotating sling on the top and you can launch satellites and spacecraft.

Do not forget that you are weight limited.  If you exceed your maximum mass you need a different plan.  So always estimate the weight.

For an untapered tether 192.5 km long with a centripetal acceleration of 3 g the Specific Strength needed
is Force * distance / surface area / density
=  1 kg * 3 * 9.81 m/s/s * 192500 m / 1 m / 1m * 1m * 1m * 1m / 1 kg = 5665 kN·m/kg
Current materials are half of that but getting stronger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_strength