re: Naive article, some issues for robotic vs manned
You obviously have done little research on space elevators. The projected costs currently are quite modest (once the enabling technologies are present--ie chiefly the carbon nanotube cables). The estimates i've seen are only 15 Billion or so, even if you multiply that by 10, it is quite modest for what you are getting. After you have one, the costs drop by at least a lot, because you can use the first one to build others and it will become a space elevator race with all the major power centers wanting cheap access to space. Once you did one, it would be almost impossible to prevent others being built. It is very clear it would be the cheapest way to space,