From: g_d_pusch_remove_underscores@xnet.com   
      
   "Makhno"  writes:   
      
   >> The current answer to the last question isn't magnets but .. lasers.   
   >> Free Electron lasers beam power to the climber, which converts the   
   >> energy into mechanical energy (wheels or treads).  IIRC, a FEL has   
   >> been designed that can do the job.   
   >   
   > There's a lot of traffic in this thread about powering the climber. Why   
   > can't it simply have a diesel/gasoline engine with its own oxygen supply?   
   > Or run electrical cables up the elevator to power an electric motor?   
   >   
   > Why make things more complicated than they need to be?   
      
   Your proposal is not _totally_ implausible. The energy required to climb   
   a beanstalk is only a small fraction of the energy required to accelerate   
   a payload into Low Earth Orbit; the fuel and oxygen tankage required   
   would be large, but not prohibitively so.   
      
      
   -- Gordon D. Pusch   
      
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