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Or more than slightly if you don't want to haul up a big counterweight but just use the cable itself as a counterweight. The Brad Edwards design proposes a total cable length of around 100,000 km. One very nice side effect of a long cable is that you can slingshot spacecraft from the far end up to ~Jupiter's orbit with zero propellant needed.


I would imagine rather than hauling up a big counterweight, you might be better served capturing a near-earth asteroid and hauling it in.


Yes. However, capturing a NEO might still be more difficult than just using a longer tether.




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