space elevator

Share
Share to social media
URL
https://mainten.top/technology/space-elevator
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

space elevator, a concept for lifting mass out of Earth’s gravity well without using rockets in which an extremely strong cable extends from Earth’s surface to the height of geostationary orbit (35,786 km [22,236 miles]) or beyond. The competing forces of gravity at the lower end and outward centripetal acceleration at the farther end would keep the cable under tension and stationary over a single position on Earth. It would then be possible to attach a payload to this cable on Earth and lift it by mechanical means to an orbital height. When released at that point, it would have ...(100 of 146 words)