Space elevators are so cool. I really hope we one day build one as it does seem to be a cost effective way if we head out into space on a larger scale. Eclipse phase wise, imagine some explorers on an desolated alien world discovering the remains of a space elevator (perhaps collapsed onto the planet's surface)...

Arenamontanus wrote:

Crashed elevators on Earthlike planets likely burn up during re-entry.

Wouldn't it be possible for some debris to reach the surface under the right entry angle? How narrow is that chance?

Arenamontanus wrote:

As for "only a game": quite a lot of my broad science and history background was originally learned as research for roleplaying games. I am convinced that without gaming, I would not have the awesome job I got today. Games are great motivators for real learning!

You are quite right there. I think learning is best done with fun, but to keep the fun I have to sometimes just relax and not think about the things I do not know. And I just like to make fun of RPG and gamers every now and then, loads of us are just plain weirdos (except of me of course...).

Bradley Edwards's book discusses snapped ribbons. In the case of Earth, the ribbon above the break falls very slowly indeed. IIRC, slowly enough that in cases very near the Earth's surface (in the atmosphere) you can repair the ribbon by replacing the below-the-break section. In principle, anyway. Minor problems such as matching velocities, carrying the repair materials, etc., all still exist. These don't look any worse than meeting a rotovator (q.v.), but would provide plenty of excitement in a game. This doesn't do you any good for most EP settings, unless you've got a bunch of wacky Reclaimers who really want to get back to Earth. That's a basically stupid idea, by the way. If you wanted a large amount of mass transfer to and from Earth you should get a big nuclear pulse rocket. You'll need it to fight your way down and to fight your way back up. Nuclear explosives ought to take very little to make, obtain, and use in EP. Fa Jing has plenty for terraforming. Deriving them from first principles isn't too hard in the setting, and advanced designs that don't require fission triggers seem reasonable. I am quite glad my campaign had no PCs who ever thought of that. :) Finally, Edwards's book also discusses the use of a space elevator for momentum transfer between a planetary body and a spacecraft. Quite impressive, and likely good business for the Martian elevator.