Ben Shelef of Spaceward sent me the following response to the Bruce Pittman statement (comparing the reality of using Fusion Power for rockets to a Space Elevator) that I posted here.
“Regrettably, that statement shows such a basic lack of understanding of both the Space Elevator design or even straight forward physical reasoning.
To respond directly, there is absolutely zero connection between the wind behavior of the power beaming setup and a real Space Elevator.
A real Space Elevator, inside the atmosphere, will likely have a round cross section, about 1/4″ in diameter, and only 0.05% of the Space Elevator (yes – half-a-thousandth) is inside any appreciable atmosphere. (50km). The Space Elevator will oscillate with a period of hours, not even comparable to what we see in atmospheric tests.
Having said that, here is one more statement:
Go Fusion! Fusion technology is definitely not a pipe-dream, and we need it urgently.”
Thank you Ben…