Why Space Elevators -- Massive Tonnage to GEO and Beyond

Modern-Day Space Elevators will enable humanity’s most important missions by moving massive tonnage to GEO and beyond in a timely, environmentally friendly, inexpensively, and efficient approach.? Future customers need huge amounts of logistics delivered to far-away places.? The customer needs a capability by a certain time which will help to mature a technology and start a program with the offer to be an "anchor tenant."? There are two large potential customers to help save the world and initiate movement towards Mars.? Mr. Musk needs 1 million tonnes to Mars for human settlement while Dr. Mankins needs 3 million tonnes to Geosynchronous orbit to provide global energy from space.?

?Dr. Mankins has stated he believes a robust space solar power architecture would "Stop global warming, and even reverse it."[i] However, to achieve his goal of replacing 12% of the global electrical power demand by 2060 with energy from Geosynchronous orbit, he needs three million tonnes[ii] of operating satellites (acres in size) delivered to a 36,000 km altitude.?? His objective is to eliminate 100's of newly planned fossil fuel burning plants. This is a remarkable mass number when you understand the rocket equation and realize that to accomplish this goal with rockets requires 250 million tonnes on the launch pad at liftoff (2% arrives at GEO).?

?These two customer estimated requirements illustrate the remarkable benefits leveraging Space Elevators.? The above table shows deliver statistics.? Modern-Day Space Elevators will become a mature infrastructure (six space elevators around the equator - with a capacity of 79 tonnes per day per elevator - say 2045) they will supply 173,010 tonnes to GEO per year.?? In all cases, permanent transportation infrastructures, like these Green Roads to Space, can provide massive logistics support. ?Remember. Space Elevators deliver 70% of its pad mass to GEO and beyond while rockets only deliver 2% of their pad mass to GEO.? Also, Humanity has only lifted approximately 22,000 tonnes to orbit between 1057-2020.

[i] Mankins, J. “NSS Space Forum – A Case for Space-Based Solar Power,” NSS Webinar, 20 Aug 2020.

[ii] updated from Dr. Mankins personal discussion, 19 Oct 2019, Wash, DC.