Lunar Lagrange Point elevator.

[Cloakedwand72]

Could Elon musk starship second stage be used to build a space elevator at a lunar Lagrange point?

[AckSed]

I see you too have watched Isaac Arthur:

To answer: probably? Reusable heavy-lift covers a multitude of use-cases, though at the very least it could be used to shuttle the counterweight into orbit in the form of a couple of asteroids.

The actual material of the tether or tethers could be better off mined from the Moon itself. Isaac Arthur states that the tethers would be around 40 metric tons each, which would be within the lift capability of the Starship, if not the capacity. I don't know the mass of the counterweight needed, but I assume it would have to balance the mass and the strain of all the tethers combined.

The real trick would be mining out the fuel feedstock for Starship - shuttling fuel would be a pain. Oxygen is easy - just bake out the lunar soil - but the moon is very carbon-poor and low on hydrogen. I'm not sure how much water will be needed by other industries once the moon is settled, but there may be fighting over claims. Establish an economical source of water and carbon from, say, an asteroid and you are going places.

Edited June 26, 2024 by AckSed