
The space elevator to the lunar surface that 'could be built today'  - adrianmn
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2194170/The-space-elevator-lunar-surface-built-today.html
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lutusp
Both literally and figuratively, a pie-in-the-sky proposal. For the moon, a
"geostationary" orbit isn't possible because the moon's rotation is tidally
locked to the earth, so the moon's orbital period is 27.3 days. This means a
lunar "space ribbon" from an orbiting craft would perpetually drag across the
moon's surface -- it could not be attached as in the usual space elevator
scenario.

A craft parked at the Lagrange point would be too far from the moon to be
practical, and there remains the issue of differential rotation between the
parked craft and the moon.

For the earth side, they're planning a balloon at a 2 kilometer height. That
is at least feasible. But neither of these proposals represents a way to get
cheaply to the moon, their promotional literature notwithstanding, because of
the huge gap between the earth's tethered balloon and the other terminal
orbiting the moon.

And all of these ideas require materials (for the tethers) that do not exist
now or in the foreseeable future.

