Space Tethers and Space Elevators

This will be some preliminary comments on the book that I have just finished.  The author, Michel van Pelt, works for the European Space Agency as an space analyst and team leader.  The book is a little short of 200 pages which took me a little over a day to read it all.

Here are some quotes that I want to cite and comment upon right off the bat:

The key to keeping the development of space tethers going appears to be
credibility;..

It will require considerable advocating, publicizing, convincing and lobbying
to keep development going, and that may turn out to be even harder than meeting the technical challenges.

Comment:

If it is even harder to keep development on space tethers going than the
technical challenges themselves, then future of space exploration would
appear to be doubtful.  Why?  Are the technical challenges for tethers
that extreme?  If you can't prove an ability to overcome the technical
challenges, what's the point?  You have to believe that you can, or you might
as well give up.  I can't say that I like that much.  It is too negative.

Here's another one that make me feel a little more optimistic:

Complicated momentum exchange tether systems still have a
long way to go before they can be considered operational
technology.  The costs of their development and deployment
into space probably mean that they will be economical only
if they are used to transport many spacecraft on a regular
basis.  However, if we require continuous transportation of
cargo or astronauts between lunar base and Earth, tethers
may prove to be a superior solution.

Comment:

This is more like it.

Getting matter off the moon is what you should want.  The more matter, the
better.  It could be lunar regolith for shielding for example.  In addition:
fuel, precious metals, and possibly manufactured goods.


Ways to use tethers continuously should be not that hard to find.

One idea is to build a large space station using lunar materials picked up
by tethers and delivered to a location where they can be collected and used
as construction material.

Update:  Here are some links provided by the book

Space Elevator? Build it on the Moon first.

NASA engineers, Tennessee college students successfully demonstrate catch mechanism for future space tether

This one isn't in the book, but comes up in a google search next to it.

Tethers Unlimited


Update:


I have added a new poll about Space Tethers.  It is near the bottom of the page.