[FT] [GZG] Beanstalks

Tom spake, and it was good...

> Noah spake thusly upon matters weighty:

> And if you've got solid state antigrav, you don't need a silly old

> Depends. Since beanstalk uses vaccum (no air resistance) and a

> Anyway, a beanstalk just screams 'Bomb Me To Make A Political Point'.

I'm
> all for disposable/recyclable BDBs (Big Dumb Boosters). The Saturn V

could
> put 50 tonnes (metric) on Luna - think how much it could put into

> Sure, so does the Eiffel Tower, The Sphinx, any Naval Base, etc. etc.

True. Wouldn't the beast have to be made out of some really tough
supermaterial, just to stand the stresses that would be put upon it? "All
right, my revolutionary brothers, we now show the Great Powers the errors of
their ways! Down with the Beanstalk!" <detonator>click <explosive>BOOM
/pause
/sirens in the distance, approaching
"OK, so it's not falling. You got a better idea?"

> From what I've seen of recent history with both US and foreign

Which we could do if we, ahem, HAD MORE MONEY! Sorry, carving up the space
budget is a pet peeve of mine. I can't help but think that the Ariane 5

blowup could have been prevented if they'd had more manpower & time (read:
money) to triple-check all of the software.  And let's not start on the
Challenger screw-up.

Here's another neat thought:  If you're using 1000km/MU in FT, or even
10,000km/MU, then a beanstalk will be represented on-table, attached to
a planet. Maybe some heavy wire or a thin rod, with a station out at geosync,
and the tethered asteroid on the end. That would look pretty
cool...