It ain’t rocket science. In some ways, it’s harder. And never more so than this year. The August 5 games have come a long way since the tether was held up by a crane-on-wheels. This time it’s to be held up by a helicopter hovering four thousand three hundred feet (one kilometer) above the Mojave Desert at Edwards AFB where the space shuttles land. For that reason alone, we’re likely to see it on television and YouTube and elsewhere. So get your background here and here and here.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Well, let’s start building one already.
Lots of details to work out yet. Imagine if, say, the beanstalk fell out of orbit and draped itself across a city.
There is that, for sure. Still, I will choose an elevator over a space shuttle anytime.
If they can get it going, it’s going to put a lot of rocket scientists out of work.
Don’t get me wrong, I want it, but I just don’t see how we are anywhere near close to building it.
Think of the stress of just the strip, not to mention the stress involved in wind or any useful cargo.
And… the size of the thing will be different at different altitudes at different times.
Humidity will affect its size, temperature will affect its size, and different materials expand and contract at different rates so it’ll have to be made of one material (or else when its hot, the steel will expand so, while the aluminum will expand differently and the plastic and whatever else they use will expand differently, while when they’re cold, the materials will all contract at different rates).
When the Sun is shining on the top and not the bottom, the top will be bigger than the bottom. At other times, since it’s colder the higher you go, it’ll be smaller at the top than the bottom. How do you make a device that can grip something that is different sizes at different places at different times?
I’m all fer it, but until we can get some new, “wonder material”, it’s just not going to happen.
I don’t think we are anywhere near close to building it. These are very early days. At this point, they’re just trying to prove the concept.
Beyond that there are many problems to solve. Composite carbon nanotubes are the preferred speculative material for the beanstalk, or tether, at present. Much of that and much more are at the links in the post.