So they want to use an electromagnet to float something 20 KM.
What happens to anything even mildly magnetic in between, or slightly off to the side? If the magnetic field is 20km+ up, wouldn't it have similar range to the sides and down? What happens when a guy with a belt buckle or a diet high in Iron walks under the ramp, over the ground level cable? Sure seems like the answer would be that without a tether, he too would go flying into space.
Or when there is a power glitch and the whole thing drops 20k. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling their "murder squad" investigation was not overly thorough, maybe only looking at "could it get something to space?", as opposed to "is this a good idea, and what could go wrong?".
Another question that came to mind, if you are able to magnetically push something 20 KM up, over the course of 1000 miles, and hold it there, Why not just magnetically lift the thing you want in one much smaller spot, but higher? Start on top a mountain (We are going big here, so I'm gonna say Everest, 9 KM up to start with). Build a mag system to lift it another 30 km. That's almost 40 km of the 200 or so for Low earth orbit. I bet that would drop the fuel cost to get the rest of the way quite significantly. Of course, what would we have to do to power that system. or the one they have designed?
Also, given that the mall of America expansion is set for 2 billion, and Apple has stashed something like 100 billion, I think their 60 billion is very over optimistic.
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