I'm still not convinced that it's possible to make the kind of super-long, defect-free nanotube cables that are going to be required. I'll be very happy if I'm proven wrong, but I certainly wouldn't say it was inevitable.
You should watch the new episode of Mythbusters called Motorcycle Flip, as the side myth in it is testing if someone can actually escape from jail like some newspapers state the 'facts' like using human hair, bedsheets and toilet paper. As all three get proved plausible, it shows what can be turned into a cable.
When someone can make a rope out of single ply perforated (the easy-rip kind) of toilet paper, I think someone will find a way to make a cable out of nanotubes.
From what I've read of nanotubes, you might not even need an adhesive to hold the cable together as they have high levels of van der Waals force. If you simply splice all the ends together it's possible you'd have the worlds strongest material held together by the universes everlasting and powerful adhesive.
I say it is inevitable because the benefit is so ridiculously high that at some point the costs of building it will be quite low compared to the economic advantage of having it. A projected budget of a trillion is paltry when you consider how many hundreds of millions are poured into space agencies every year.
When someone can make a rope out of single ply perforated (the easy-rip kind) of toilet paper, I think someone will find a way to make a cable out of nanotubes.
From what I've read of nanotubes, you might not even need an adhesive to hold the cable together as they have high levels of van der Waals force. If you simply splice all the ends together it's possible you'd have the worlds strongest material held together by the universes everlasting and powerful adhesive.