Lunar Sky Hook

[Hop_David]

When comes to parking rocks in our neighborhood, it takes a whole lot less delta V to put an asteroid in lunar orbit than the lower earth orbits. If we had infrastructure in lunar orbit, coming and going from the lunar surface wouldn't be so hard. There are possible synergies between asteroid mining and lunar development.

My Lunar Sky Hook blog post looks at extending tethers from an asteroid in lunar orbit.

Earlier I had taken a look at Liftport's proposed lunar tether. This tether is possible with existing materials such as Zylon. However tether to mass payload ratio is 161 (if I did my math right). And this elevator is anchored at the equator. So far as I'm concerned, the most interesting lunar destinations are the poles.

[A_M_Swallow]

{snip}
Earlier I had taken a look at Liftport's proposed lunar tether. This tether is possible with existing materials such as Zylon. However tether to mass payload ratio is 161 (if I did my math right). And this elevator is anchored at the equator. So far as I'm concerned, the most interesting lunar destinations are the poles.

A cable car or over head track system from the equator to the polls would have to be built. The towers can be made from lunar materials. The equipment can be powered by solar electricity.