Lunar Space Elevator Instead?
koa writes "We have all seen articles on building a Space Elevator on the earth, how about this article about experimenting with the Moon first since the technology we have available to us is sufficient, as the Moon's gravity is 1/6th that of Earth's (the cable weight would require less exotic materials such as carbon nano-tubes). One could make a very good argument for commercialization of Space if getting materials to and from the Moon's surface was vastly cheaper and easier."
This theory has been investigated in depth in a recent book, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=014032870X/ 002-2420335-1812868
Business Voyeur
Bah! The idea is pure lunacy.