zlacker

> Finally, if we limited ourselves to earth-based raw materials, we would eventually reach a point where the remaining mass of the earth would have less gravitational effect on the satellite fleet than the fleet itself, which would have deleterious effects on the satellite fleet.

The Earth's crust has an average thickness of about 15-20 km. Practically we can only get at maybe the top 1-2 km, as drill bits start to fail the deeper you go.

The Earth's radius is 6,371 km.

So even if we could somehow dug up entire crust we can get to and flung it into orbit, that would barely be noticeable to anything in orbit.

>>SJC_Ha+(OP)
Once you dig up the top kilometer of a planet's crust, what's under your feet? The next kilometer!

That would suck to do to Earth, but we can launch all of Mars's mass into the swarm.