Not So
Starman35, this has been studied by physicsists and chemists as well as astronomers. At the ground, the tether would be a ribbon around a meter wide, and only a couple of millimeters thick, except for where the power and communications cables are installed. It would taper up in thickness to the station, then taper off after the station. If Carbon Nano tubes (pure) are used, it would be around 30 Meters across at the station. If Diamond were used, it would have to be thicker, around 150 Meters across at the station. If Tungston Steel were used, it would have to be around 2 Meters across at the ground end, and taper up to around 5 KM across at the station.
There are ranges of size needed that are dependent on the tensile strength of the material used. Even spider silk has been considered. The problem there is that the strength of the silk requires water in the bonds. It would have to be encapsulated. Spider silk is about 10 X stronger than steel in tension. That's better than we get with current tether materials, but less than the carbon nano tubes are capable of.
It probably won't be possible to build until after we already have colonies in space. It's much easier to build it in place and then lower it to the ground.
So it is possible, will be profitable, but not in your lifetime. It's long range research at this point. But, research has spinoffs.
There will be whole new industries in the next 20 years or so from this effort.
