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by rbanffy·17y ago·view on hn ↗
"A series of towers that could suspend a magnetic accelerator about 300 miles long above the bulk of the atmosphere would be almost equivalent to a Space Elevator."

The problem is that during acceleration you would push the tower back with a force greater than the weight of the craft being accelerated. I am not sure how much load those inflatables would bear, but I would guess that it's in the "not much" range.

2 comments
This is why you'd want a series of towers, so that the force would be distributed. Also, you'd have the accelerator start at the ground, so the structure could be tethered there.
Tether it to a large mountain.