According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator, only 20 (US) tons of carbon are required for an initial fiber, so even a factor of 10 would be 200 tons or 400,000# -- i.e., it could just barely be carried by a single AN-225 or perhaps even the A380 (assuming that it will be able to carry even its own cabling!). Re marketing: the whole point of the exercise is to get a working space elevator -- the carbon sequestration is just a means to this end. At 03:18 PM 8/1/2006, Marc LeBrun wrote:
By the way, how would the mass of the carbon comprising the nanotubes compare to the mass of carbon one is presumably attempting to sequester? At first that's what I thought you were going to use the carbon-tithe for.
(Doubtless the pyramids were built mainly to sequester stone; the funerary monument angle was just marketing hype<;-)