Which equatorial country should get a space elevator?

[LegionSteve]

Is it a bad sign that I read "Climber" as "Cucumber" in the thumbnail?

I did exactly the same thing

"Why would you send a cucumber into.. ah, nevermind"

 

[El_Machinae]

I've no idea how they'd build it... Where would it be assembled?

It would be built in the sponsoring nations, and then the material shot (at large expense) into space. The tether would then be lowered to Earth and attached to an ocean platform akin to an ocean oil rig. This would be very tough, and very expensive.

After the first one goes up, the second one would be vastly cheaper because the infrastructure needed to make the cable would already be there, and lift costs would be much, much lower (using the first space elevator). Again, the cable would be taken to near orbit and then lowered down to Earth to attach to a platform.

I really enjoyed Edwards' book on the topic. It's one of those books I think space enthusiasts should actually buy.
Way back when, I was hoping the Space Elevator games would lead to some exponential progress (they still have the potential to). That said, I currently don't know the record for the 'best' carbon cable produced to date. Previously, China held the record.

 

[Cutlass]

Mount Kenya is 5,199m high and is about 150km from Nairobi

But that's 1 mountain, and a tourist area besides. Ecuador has a large area at high altitude, with platues that would make a better base for construction.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I don't see the need for multiple mountains. In fact, that would make additional construction around it simpler. And a space elevator can also be a tourist spot in addition to the other functions it serves.

 

[Cutlass]

But it would ruin an existing tourist spot....

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Well I don't speak for the Kenyan government so I wouldn't know if they'd accept that trade-off. I'll just say that there are far more reasons to say "yes" than otherwise.

 

[LamaGT]

Given the length of the elevator would be something like 24000km I don't think 5km more or less are going to matter. They would when launching rockets, but this is not the case.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

All of them and make it a race.

 

[Silurian]

LamaGT@
The higher up the less wind so the less energy to keep the bottom in one place.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

How much room does the base of the elevator require? Including facilities and such.

 

[El_Machinae]

It'd just be a shipping complex. Really, describing it as an ocean-going oil rig ain't all that off. The rest would be bureaucratic infrastructure.

 

[Antilogic]

But it would ruin an existing tourist spot....

Dude, that's it, space elevator in ANWAR. And Yosemite.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Put it in Brazil. The western hemisphere needs a boost

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Seems like it will win. The ports of the US Eastern Seaboard would see a lot more traffic with such a proposal.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I vote for Sao Tome and Principe, so that the commerce from the elevator can fund my future socialist republic's economy.

 

[sophie]

The British haven't been civilized for sixteen hundred years. Why would they start now?

Are you saying the earliest Anglo-Saxons were civilized or are you saying the Romans in Britain were civilized?

Either way I'd say your assertion is rather...*ahem* disputable.

 

[Dachs]

Are you saying the earliest Anglo-Saxons were civilized or are you saying the Romans in Britain were civilized?

Either way I'd say your assertion is rather...*ahem* disputable.

I am saying that the British have not been "civilized" for the entirety of their continuous existence.

 

[Mise]

Putting it on the top of a mountain seems a bit silly.

 

[Silurian]

Putting it near the top of a mountain would reduce the effects of weather.

 

[Mise]

Yeah but it's quite difficult building anything on top of a mountain already, let alone a 400km high lift.