Space Elevator?

[Greg the Mad]

So it's kinda annoying to always pack 4400m/s extra on a rocket just to get into orbit. A Space elevator would be a nice solution for this. It may be a notch unrealistic at the moment, but still would improve the flow of the game.

I'd really like to be able to build a space elevator in KSP, even if it takes me 100 missions to capture big asteroids, and build the whole thing in orbit.

Does anyone know of a mod for this, or does the developer have an official stance on it?

[Rene]

Well, "Orbital construction and construction on other celestials" is on the What not to suggest list[forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]. That doesn't mean it's ruled out, but personally I don't see it happening.

Because, well, where would you stop? It's kinda annoying to always pack 1070 m/s extra just for the transfer to the Mun, so why not start in Mun orbit. But then, it's kinda annoying to pack enough delta-v to land on the Mun. And so on and so on.

[Greg the Mad]

Well, certainly it would make stuff easy. That's why I would hope you'd have to build it. Basically, if you can build such an elevator, you know the local orbital mechanics enough that they're already a chore to you. That's why a elevator would let you skip them.

The Extraplanetary Launchpads mod I found in your link seems promissing. It appears to require Kathane, something I haven't looked into yet, but it sounds balanced enough. ... now if only mod would be on Steam Workshops... >.>

Thanks for the reply anyway.

[Hitori]

Well if you was to look at it realistically, in RL we currently unable to make a space elevator as we do not have a building material strong enough to hold it together for the needed distance. But if you wana save fuel, a linear catapult would reduce the fuel needed to get moving, sadly the only differance is same as for a space elevator, fuel cost, and the energy source used (same as the catapults on aircraft carriers).
That would be a interesting addition for the launchpad.

[Frito Pendejo]

related to this?
abc.net.au/news/2014-09-21/japanese-construction-giants-promise-space-elevator-by-2050/5756206

[El Rushbo]

You could always try this approach:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=261976090

[Gralzeim]

Extraplanetary Launchpads is also compatible with the Karbonite mod, if you'd rather use that for in-situ resource utilization. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/89401-24-2-Karbonite-Mineable-Burnable-and-Community-Driven-0-3-5-2014-09-12

I personally prefer Karbonite because the Kethane scanner only scans while you're actively piloting the craft it's on, doesn't work too well with high time warp (skips hexes) and Karbonite works with SCANSat. Also has some models I prefer the look of over Kethane.

[IronSides]

What if WE DID have the strong mats, wouldn't a long cable which would have to be taught at all times be "in the line of fire" for space junk at all times?

I mean one fast moving piece of junk cuts that cable and your done, I wouldn't wanna be on the elevator at that moment.

PS I'm thinking cable from that star trek voyager episode.

[Greg the Mad]

I think it only take 400, or 800 m/s thrust to savely lang a capsule anywere on Kerbin, coming from anywere, not to mention parachutes. (provided you have no leathal air-friciton mod) So if you plan for it, your capsule should be save.
More interesting would be the whiplash of the cable that would tear the planet and spacestation and new one ...

[Itching Pain]

Moar.... BOOSTERS!!!!!

[IronHawx]

Idk about the elevator idea, but building in orbit would be awesome to have better implemented. Right now all we have is docking which makes crafts unstable, it be nice if we could eva and unpack a tool and have resources handy to weld them together and make it one solid part. I belive there was a mod like this at one point in time though haven't been able to find it. Building in orbit isn't that unrealistic as we are already devising tech to do it better and create more advanced craft/stations than that of the ISS.

[ZombieHunter]

Building in orbit is the solution. Space elevator not so much. After having read a lot of articles about this supposed tech I still cannot grasp how it would work. Torque is r x F so in essence the farther away a force is on a connected object the higher the force. Imagine a force of 50N (11lbs) being exerted on the elevator cable at 5000 ft. due to winds / storms on earth. Calculate what that force would be on the other end in LEO. It is astronomical and I doubt any cable or any cable attachment would ever be able to resist those kinds of magnitudes. One would think torque would make a space elevator cable impractical. At any given time there would be multiple torques being applied to the cable as it passed through the various levels of the atmosphere. One can only guess this elevator could be nowhere close to a jet stream.

[Ottomic]

Originally posted by IronHawx:

Idk about the elevator idea, but building in orbit would be awesome to have better implemented. Right now all we have is docking which makes crafts unstable, it be nice if we could eva and unpack a tool and have resources handy to weld them together and make it one solid part.

You need KAS, my friend. It's gonna make you very happy, hopefully.

[Minion of Speed]

What if, when you get enough science to research the tech for it, you could put a shipyard in orbit and use it like the VAB?

[Ottomic]

Originally posted by Gosshawk:

What if, when you get enough science to research the tech for it, you could put a shipyard in orbit and use it like the VAB?

Extraplanetary Launchpads lets you do that.

If you want it in vanilla you can always wait doe.

[Minion of Speed]

Does it work just like the VAB?