Uniquely amongst space elevator designs that don't rely on an external power supply, an orbital ring could feasibly be built with current technology, at current industrial and economic output.<p>In fact, I guess a minimum proof-of-concept could be done with only a small startup budget for bunch of cubesat launches and 2 suborbital station launches. The cubesat "ring" bounces between the two non-orbiting stations, which hold themselves aloft by magnetically deflecting the cubesats back and forth to each other.