Launching from the Moon is cheap - magnetic rail and solar power can do the job and cut the need for propellant significantly and there is water enough to make e lot of propellant for delta-v's you'll need. With all that slack, we can relax a bit with mass and use simpler techniques to build ships. A lot of 3D printing and automated manufacturing.
On the not-so-bright side, we'll have to develop new metallurgy and other industrial processes based on local chemistry.
Where would the counterweight have to be for one end to be in high Earth atmosphere, balancing atmospheric drag with lift and gravity? My math tells me the end would be traveling at a relatively tame 260 kph.
On the not-so-bright side, we'll have to develop new metallurgy and other industrial processes based on local chemistry.
Where would the counterweight have to be for one end to be in high Earth atmosphere, balancing atmospheric drag with lift and gravity? My math tells me the end would be traveling at a relatively tame 260 kph.