Why do we need it?
Once you achieve earth orbit you are halfway to anywhere in the solar system in terms of delta V. Imagine cutting the first two stages off the giant Saturn V rockets we used to send our astronauts to the moon. We could also use rotating beanstalks orbiting the moon and just barely touching down at the surface to transport people and materials to and from the lunar surface. Rotating beanstalks located
throughout the solar system could convert speeds of vehicles simply by docking at the middle point and then traveling out to the end before casting off with a -much- higher speed. Or slow them down by reversing the process. We could fly around the solar system like in a pin ball machine. Beanstalks would not work on Venus because the length of the day and the rotational velocity is unsuitable. Think of transporting millions of tons of material up and down the stalk with zero pollution and no energy drain from earth as all the solar power we could ever use could be coming down on superconducting cables from orbiting solar power stations and from the electrical differences between earth and the other end of the cable. There are incredible fortunes to be made in space, things and new processes we can't even begin to imagine. I just hope we have the guts and intellect to get in on it and not to leave it to the Chinese and Japanese to exploit. And they certainly -will- do it whether we participate or not.
