目前估计建造太空电梯的成本在60亿美元的法律和监管成本为40亿美元,据布拉德利·爱德华兹的作者“太空电梯,NIAC二期最终报告。”(Edwards is also the Dr. Bradley Carl Edwards, President and Founder of Carbon Designs.) By comparison, the cost of the space shuttle program was predicted in 1971 to be $5.2 billion, but ended up costing $19.5 billion. Additionally, each space shuttle flight costs $500 million, which is more than 50 times more than original estimates.