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The biggest challenge of building a space elevator may be the 100,000-kilometer-long tether. It would have to be incredibly strong to handle the gravitational and centrifugal forces pulling on it. The steel used in tall buildings wouldn't work for a space elevator cable.Sep 20, 2019

For example, the SpaceX Falcon-9 has a cost per kg of around $2,500 to low earth orbit, whereas the much smaller Rocket Lab Electron rocket has a cost of around $22,000 per kilogram. Of course, cost per kilogram also varies depending on the destination of that kilogram.

A space elevator built according to the Edwards proposal is estimated to cost $6 billion.

How Will it Work? A space elevator would involve a tether anchored to the ground and stretching up into space. At the top of the elevator, a counterweight will serve to keep the cable taut. Centrifugal force will actually be responsible for holding the tether in space as the Earth rotates slowly.

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 Space Elevator is a special building used to complete phases of Project Assembly by supplying it with Project Assembly Parts. The firstof Milestones, while the fourth one unlocks the 'Employee of the Planet' Cup in the AWESOME Shop.

If the break occurred at higher altitude, up to about 25,000 kilometres (16,000 mi), the lower portion of the elevator would descend to Earth and drape itself along the equator east of the anchor point, while the now unbalanced upper portion would rise to a higher orbit.

Building the elevator will slow the earth by a negligible amount. Over time, launching spacecraft will slow it more but bringing back ore from the asteroid mines will speed it back up.

To support the weight of a tether and payload, the object to be used as a "space anchor" must actually be in an equatorial orbit but at a greater than geostationary altitude. The whole point of a space elevator is to get a payload out of Earth's gravity well.Mar 15, 2017

• Many uses for space tethers have been proposed, including deployment as space elevators, as skyhooks, and for doing propellant-free orbital transfers. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) once proposed a tower so tall that it reached into space, so that it would be held there by the rotation of Earth.

• For locations in the solar system with weaker gravity than Earth's (such as the Moon or Mars ), the strength-to-density requirements for tether materials are not as problematic. Currently available materials (such as Kevlar) are strong and light enough that they could be practical as the tether material for elevators there.

• The Mombasa Tether. A space elevator, also known as a space tether, is an immense structure which is used to ferry large loads of materials into space. Space elevators generally consist of large structures of carbon nanofiber which span straight up from the ground, thousands of kilometers high, ending at stations in space.

The space tether experiment, a joint venture of the US and Italy, called for a scientific payload--a large, spherical satellite--to be deployed from the US space shuttle at the end of a conducting cable (tether) 20 km (12.5 miles) long.Nov 25, 2001

A Space Tether is a long cable that connects two masses and uses fundamental laws of physics to generate electric power, artificial gravity, and thrust or drag, among other things1, all without using propellant.Feb 19, 2007

The experiment was only partially successful, and tether deployment could not be confirmed. The orbit decayed from 350 km (220 mi) to 280 km (170 mi) in 50 days, considerably faster than the other CubeSats launched on the same mission, an indirect indication that its tether deployed, increasing the drag.

The Tether™ - Vertebral Body Tethering System is a non-fusion spinal device intended to treat idiopathic scoliosis , an abnormal curvature in the spine that occurs without a known cause, in young patients whose bones have not fully matured.Aug 16, 2019

A space tether is a long strand of fibers used to couple a space craft with another mass which allows for an exchange of momentum or energy. Tethers can be used to change the orbits of satellites without consuming any propellant, or to transport payloads from a planet to low altitude orbit.May 5, 2007

Power is applied to the tethers and is picked up by a vehicle that has linear magnet motors on it, which it uses to push itself along the length of the cable. Near the end of the cable the vehicle releases a payload and slows and stops itself and the payload carries on at very high velocity.

The Tethered Satellite System (TSS) generates electricity by sweeping up ions -- charged particles that have been captured by Earth's magnetic field. The current flows down a wire inside the tether to the space shuttle. Electron guns on the shuttle then fire them back into space, completing the circuit.May 24, 1996

• T-REX is a Space TetheR Experiment (T-REX) promoted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA. A Japanese led international team is developing a suborbital test of an electrodynamic tether which may one day enable spacecraft to maneuver in space without the use of any propellant.

• Space Tethers. Artist concept of the T-Rex tether after full deployment (300 meters) as it would be seen if you were looking down upon it from space. (NASA) T-REX is a Space TetheR Experiment (T-REX) promoted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA.

• The Advanced Tether Experiment (ATEx), was a follow on to the TiPS experiment, designed and built by the Naval Center for Space Technology. ATEx flew as part of the STEX (Space Technology Experiment) mission.

• The tether was a 500 m length of insulated 18 gauge copper wire. The mission was launched on 26 June 1993, as the secondary payload on a Delta II rocket. The total experiment lasted approximately seven hours.

T-REX is a Space TetheR Experiment (T-REX) promoted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA. A Japanese led international team is developing a suborbital test of an electrodynamic tether which may one day enable spacecraft to maneuver in space without the use of any propellant.

Space Tethers. Artist concept of the T-Rex tether after full deployment (300 meters) as it would be seen if you were looking down upon it from space. (NASA) T-REX is a Space TetheR Experiment (T-REX) promoted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA.

The tether was a 500 m length of insulated 18 gauge copper wire. The mission was launched on 26 June 1993, as the secondary payload on a Delta II rocket. The total experiment lasted approximately seven hours.

The Advanced Tether Experiment (ATEx), was a follow on to the TiPS experiment, designed and built by the Naval Center for Space Technology. ATEx flew as part of the STEX (Space Technology Experiment) mission.