> How will you do that, with what kind of energy source? Rocket motors?
The idea of an elevator is you only have to go up. With a rocket, you have to go both up and over.
Rockets would work. Solar power would be better—the 2 kW array (~100 sq ft) needed [1]is more than doable; you could use a smaller panel with batteries, too. Surface nuclear of the kind we’re already developing [2] might also make sense, though now you need lasers.
Microwave ion beam from the array of solar panels.
Isaac Arthur not being linked in any Futurology thread may be a criminal disservice in its own way, he is too valuable a light to not share with others.
