Gilly Space Elevator

[Coatimundi]

I've heard that the physics range has been increased, so i was thinking that with a few mods, such as TweakScale, HyperEdit, Active Texture Management, and the welding mod, would it be possible to make a Gilly Space Elevator? I know it wouldn't be very useful, im not planning to make an actual elevator, just a tower, but I just wanted to know if it was possible before I wasted my time trying it. I also read on the wiki that synchronous orbit for Gilly is 42.14 km, which i think is too far, but do you need to be at a synchronous orbit for a space elevator to work?

[adinfinitum]

For it to be a true space elevator it would have to be a synchronous orbit, but that's because the concept use a flexible cable, if the top is too high or low the cable wraps around the planet. I'm pretty sure the physics range extension is only for in atmosphere, but you could still make a 2km long tower, maybe secure it to Gilly with a lot of clamps.

I don't know how long it'd stay, because of the CoM being so far from the surface, but you could put a capsule on bottom, capsule on top, use it to transfer kerbals up and down instantly.

[HyperbolicKerbonaut]

I saw an apollo-style launch video on youtube that had a fully working elevator on the launch pad. I think it used the medium size rover wheels on an I beam.

[Red Iron Crown]

A true space elevator needs to extend past stationary orbital height, as the centrifugal force* exerted by the mass beyond stationary moving faster than orbital speed at that altitude is what keeps tension on it. So a Gilly space elevator would need a physics bubble larger than 42.14km.

* Any pedants about to claim centrifugal force does not exist are invited to click here.

[-Velocity-]

do you need to be at a synchronous orbit for a space elevator to work?

At or beyond it. As Red Iron Crown states, a space elevator is simply a structure tall enough for centrifugal force to overwhelm gravity at the top. At the synchronous orbit altitude, centrifugal force would exactly equal gravity for a structure with a base fixed on the surface.

[Voyager275]

I find space elevators complicated(too complicated)

[Motokid600]

You can extend the range to whatever your pc can handle ( and the kraken permits ) with mods. BDArmory for one. However a 42km structure will lag. The only way you could do it with playable FPS I imagine would be to scale up 42 structural parts 1x1km wide. Wether or not your pc would crash before you could make even one panel is unknown.

Even if you could make it there's no way the physics engine would keep it stable. I hope future versions of KSP and Unity can better support large distances.

[Dedjal]

Now I want to stick an asteroid with 2km of structure to a small moon, or another asteroid.