The Space Tube: The Best Kind of Space Elevator

Want to do something even more cool with Evacuated Tube Transport ? Point it straight up into Low Earth orbit and you have a Space Elevator ! Many people think the only design for a space elevator is the Bradley Edwards design, where a spool of ribbon is put into Geo Stationary Earth orbit and then is unwound down to the earths surface, where it is fastened. A counter weight like a small asteroid or space station is then placed at the top of the elevator, which keeps the ribbon tight and straight as the rotation of the earth spins. Climbers then ride the ribbon up and down, as they deliver supplies and people to earth orbit safely and cheaply instead of using expensive and dangerous rockets. Sounds great in theory, but the problem is a smaller scaled version of the space elevator can't be built and tested, because only a full scale version can use the centrifugal force of a counterweight. Not to mention, an over 22,000 mile long ribbon stretching into outer space is an awful big target for micrometeorites to shred it over the course of months and years. Even worse, all it would take would be a single strike from a small meteor or piece of space junk and snap goes the space elevator ! A more practical design would be to take four evacuated tubes, two hundred miles each, curved at the center at a right angle and their bottom half on the ground and their top half pointing upward. The bottom half serves as a counter weight and keeps the top half from tipping backwards. Then place all four against each other and bolt them together. You now have a one hundred mile high space elevator ready to use ! The beauty of this design is that it is scalable. You can build a one hundredth or one tenth scale elevator and work out the kinks before you build a full scale version. Its also sturdy, won't tip over and can withstand meteorite and space junk collisions. People and cargo take capsules up and down the tube, either two of the tubes to a Stanford Torrid at the top or use the other two tubes to shoot them into interplanetary space. The Space Tube will be safe, reliable, and cost a fraction of the price of rockets. Lets start building this immediately, so all of mankind can enjoy the benefits of space travel !