Notes from a presentation by Larry Bartoszek at Capricon 45, Chicago, Feb. 8, 2024. Any mistakes are mine. The speaker is not responsible for any errors here.
A recent International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) study showed that a 20 ton Space Elevator climber needs tens of megawatts of electrical power to begin climbing from the surface of the Earth, but the power required falls off as 1/r2, as gravity does. This talk will look at options for delivering the large amount of power to get started and the design of a laser power beaming system to power the climber at higher altitudes. Non-laser options will also be discussed.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 