I am a big fan of SpaceX, they are amazing engineers and scientists!
But when I watch such videos I can't suppress thinking that is not the way access to space should be. I still (I am 69) think that the way forward is with planes that could take off and landing on runways.
A fantasy for all the same reasons as putting up a million data centre satellites (it's roughly the same size project), but somewhat more useful as it turns space from one of the most expensive and difficult places to go, to a long-distance high-speed rail line.
Orbital rings… I think are more like a century or two. Physical possibility and affordability will I think take only 25-100 years[0], the rest being politics getting to the point nobody shoots it up.
[0] if you believe Alphabet's estimates about how fast SpaceX can reduce costs, estimated in the context of orbital data centers, it would only take 10.
I think this is overoptimistic, as the Alphabet paper assumed 370,000 tons[1] getting launched as the process for reducing costs, and I think Musk runs out of other people's money before that point.
Looking at the return trajectory for the space shuttle helps you understand the difficulties in combining aero-flight with rocketry using the same control surfaces.
But when I watch such videos I can't suppress thinking that is not the way access to space should be. I still (I am 69) think that the way forward is with planes that could take off and landing on runways.