Can we build a space elevator on the Moon with present technology?

We have all heard about the idea of space elevators, a cable so long that it literally reaches into outer space, to be used for launching payloads cheaply into Earth and interplanetary orbits. However, the technologies for building such a device on Earth simply aren't there yet, due to our planet's deep gravitational well.

The Moon however has less mass, and a correspondingly shallower gravitational well, with surface acceleration of $1.6 m/s^2$, about 16% of Earth's.

Can we build a space elevator on the Moon with present technology? Is there any back of the Google-spreadsheet way of estimating if it were technologically feasible from an engineering standpoint? I'm not going to go into cost, since that might have to involve the idea of building an industrial capacity on the Moon, etc.

posted over 8 years ago

Serban Tanasa‭

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