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space elevator
- Related Topics:
- space exploration
- elevator
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- UPCommons - Design of A Space Elevator as an Alternative Transport to Space (Nov. 28, 2024)
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)