:: The Mars Project - Space Elevator ::

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The building of the space elevator is what changed Mars from a scientific colony to a world civilization. The thin cable, built from strands of carbon molecules, stretches from the surface on the rim of on of Mars' largest volcanoes to an orbiting asteroid. The center of gravity of the cable is at exactly the geosynchronous orbit point so the cable is supported by the competing forces of the orbiting asteroid’s velocity and Mars' gravity.

Small cars carrying cargo and passengers climb up and down the cable on a counter-balance system. So what once took a tremendous amount of rocket fuel now takes only a small amount of electricity.

This image shows the base of the elevator. The actual cable is inside the cylindrical structure you see.

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