Nauru and the coming of the Space Elevator Complex

Open Letter to the Government and President of Nauru:

Dear Friends,

It may not have come to your attention yet, but the Republic of Nauru is about to become the most valuable real estate on our planet, because it is one of the very few locations where a space elevator can be realized.

For physical reasons, the space elevator can only be constructed on or near the equator. Your country is ideally suited because Nauru has harbor installations, asphalt roads and a landing facilities capable of handling large aircraft. Most importantly, it is an island surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean. Hence, security will not be an issue.

If you look at a globe and circumvent the World at the equator, you will see that most of the equatorial landfall is on countries that are politically unstable and where security would be a real issue. The other few islands that exist on the equator have no infrastructure to speak of. These factors make your nation a very attractive site for the space elevator complex.

Because of these factors, it would behoove your government to give close consideration to this issue and take a pro-active stance. It would be nice to see Nauru gain a long term benefit from this resource, rather than have it become an exploited Panama, or as in your not so distant past, a wholesale rape of your island by mining speculators.

Could the unproductive land in the island interior be nationalized? If that were possible, it could be leased to the highest bidder without the conflict that would inevitably occur if it were left to real estate speculators.


When you have your ducks in order, it would be prudent to start making NASA, the European Space Agency and the Chinese Space agency aware of your real estate. As far as the media goes, this will be a very "sexy" issue, and your nation is sure to gain a lot of coverage, long before the space elevator is actually realized.


Respectfully yours,

Ideal Space Elevator location

Where does one place a Space Elevator?
Nauru, a small island in the Pacific, an optimum place for a Space Elevator.

I took a virtual trip, circumnavigating the World at the equator to see what places were realistically feasible for placing a space elevator using the following three points as a guide:

• The location must be near the equator.
• Easy access for transportation.
• Road infrastructure.
  
• Securable.

There is surprisingly little land on the equator, and much of that is subject to unstable governments and/or too easily accessible to terrorist attack. One of the few locations that almost fit the above parameters is in the Galapagos islands, but unfortunately it is on an active volcanic island.
When all was said and done, I was really only left with a small island called Nauru

Nauru can accommodate Commercial aircraft and has port facilities

• The island is a scant 40 miles from the equator.
• It has a full-size runway that can take commercial aircraft.
• There are port facilities.
• The population is small and inclined to Western ideals.
• Because of the vast expanse of ocean surrounding it, access to the island can easily be monitored, thus enhancing security.

At a glance, it is surprising that such a small island with a proportionate population would be in possession of such over-sized transportation facilities, until you learn that this is because of it's main - and dwindling - export.
Guano - essentially bird-poop, layer upon layer created century upon century, creating a commercially viable quantity of rich phosphates, suitable for fertilizer and other commodities. These were ruthlessly mined to exhaustion in the last century. With some of the proceeds, Nauru was able to build a hard-cover road that rings the island. They also had a first-rate runway constructed, capable of receiving commercial aircraft.
To remove the guano, a deep port facility was created which now sits largely unused.
English is widely spoken and literacy is at %97. The country desperately needs some kind of economical infusion, and an invitation to host a Space Elevator would probably be very favorably received.