I wonder if we could work around the stronger gravity by using a spaceship as the anchor for a space elevator or skyhook? Both of those technologies are pretty far off, but so is getting humans to another star system.
currently we have no known materials that would actually be strong enough to support their own weight at the length of a space elevator on earth. double the gravity and the length will also at least double (possibly quadruple? not sure on the math here) so it may also be impossible to build a space elevator on one of these planets, at least without the use of active suspension (possible? theoretically.)
Currently we have no known materials that would actually survive a 111 light year trip to another solar system, so that fact that we can't actually build the space elevator when we get there seems irrelevant. They're both roughly the same order of magnitude of impossible with our current technology.
Okay, I should know I have to be 100% pedantic when discussing these kinds of topics, so that's my bad. I amend my claim to the following:
Assuming we could generate a sufficiently focused laser or other communication mechanism to communicate over 111 light years (which we can't), currently we have no known material that we could build the comm device out of that would survive a 111 light year trip to another solar system intact enough for the device to actually function.
Still a bit wishy-washy since it involves magical technology that we have no idea how to build, and if we had the communications technology we would probably have the materials science too, but hopefully that gets the point I was originally trying to make across.
If the rock is moving at a relativistic velocity then it will be gradually ablated by collisions with interstellar particles. That's why any realistic design for a starship requires some kind of bow shield.
As gravity increases the tensile strength necessary for the elevator increases. We haven't even figured out how to mass produce materials that would suffice for an elevator on earth yet.
I mean, we're already talking about getting humans to another star 111 lightyears away; I'd assume by the time we're ready to do that we'll have figured out how to mass-produced nanotubes or something.
