Uniquely amongst space elevator designs that don't rely on an external power supply, an orbital ring could feasibly be built with current technology, at current industrial and economic output.
In fact, I guess a minimum proof-of-concept could be done with only a small startup budget for bunch of cubesat launches and 2 suborbital station launches. The cubesat "ring" bounces between the two non-orbiting stations, which hold themselves aloft by magnetically deflecting the cubesats back and forth to each other.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 14.3 ms ] threadIn fact, I guess a minimum proof-of-concept could be done with only a small startup budget for bunch of cubesat launches and 2 suborbital station launches. The cubesat "ring" bounces between the two non-orbiting stations, which hold themselves aloft by magnetically deflecting the cubesats back and forth to each other.