Nonsense. Who pays for a firm to design stuff like this as well as their Mars House?
“Who pays for a firm to design stuff like this as well as their Mars House?”
You’d be surprised.
I’ve concluded that there’s good (not big, but quite livable) money in proposing over-the-top mega-engineering projects. Over the years I’ve seen proposals for:
- a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar, including a 5-mile suspended span
- a single freeway connecting every continent (yes, I said “every”)
- an indoor ski resort in Atlanta (just a 10 minute drive from me)
- a floating ocean city
- ongoing study of a “space elevator”
- a mile-long cruise ship (lifetime occupancy intended)
and many others.
Thing is, all of these are within the realm of possibility. Strained, yes, expensive, yes, but possible. The computer you’re reading this on was similarly impossible not long ago. Elon Musk is pulling off several comparably “impossible” projects at once (mass-production luxury cars, palatable solar power for all homes, reusable space flight at 1% of normal cost, all gearing up for Mars colonization).
Who pays? Track down some ultra-rich people who are thinking big. Come up with some crazy-yet-useful/profitable notion that would cost $10B or $100B. Put together a one-sheet summary, with a note that writing a proper proposal will require 10 people 1 year ... to wit $1M, a paltry 0.01% or less of total project cost. That’s play money for a rich guy wanting to show off his futurist thinking and great wealth, and that’s a decent livable income for a team. At end of year, give ultra-rich dude the snazzy presentation for him to throw a lavish party over, solicit partnership for more research, and generally keep it going as a pet project of his for years; if he’s _extremely_ lucky & rich, you might just see it happen for real.
Never mind that even a “high strength” cable will break just due to its own weight at 50,000 miles length...
31,000 miles of cable and or top structure. How many tons of cable would that be. What is the weight of the tower itself which must be lifted to the desired height. How is the cable attached to the asteroid, and how large must it be to bear the load. How much does it cost to transport to materials to the asteroid. How much would this all cost in materials and labor. What would the insurance rates for the construction and than the occupied structure be like. Sounds not just implausible and impossible, but kind of expensive to me. I do have a nice inexpensive bridge for you if you are interested.