Space Elevator 16
Space Elevator 16 : Structure: (3) Climbers: A space elevator cannot be an elevator in the typical sense (with moving cables) due to the need for the cable to be significantly wider at the center than at the tips. While various designs employing moving cables have been proposed, most cable designs call for the "elevator" to climb up a stationary cable. Climbers cover a wide range of designs. On elevator designs whose cables are planar ribbons, most propose to use pairs of rollers to hold the cable with friction. Climbers must be paced at optimal timings so as to minimize cable stress and oscillations and to maximize throughput. Lighter climbers can be sent up more often, with several going up at the same time. This increases throughput somewhat, but lowers the mass of each individual payload. As the car climbs, the elevator takes on a 1 degree lean, due to the top of the elevator traveling faster than the bottom around the Earth (Coriolis force). This diagram is not to scale. The horizontal speed of each part of the cable increases with altitude, proportional to distance from the center of the Earth, reaching orbital velocity at a point 66% of the height between the surface and geostationary orbit. As a payload is lifted up a space elevator, it gains not only altitude, but horizontal speed (angular momentum) as well. This angular momentum is taken from the Earth's own rotation. As the climber ascends, it is initially moving slightly more slowly than each successive part of cable it is moving on to. This is the coriolis force, the climber "drags" (Westward) on the cable as it climbs
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