Space elevator
The transport from Mars' surface to Mars' orbit and vice versa can be achieved by a Space Elevator. The idea is to install a high-tensile rope from the surface to the synchronous orbit and a certain length beyond, connected to a counter weight.
Since the gravity of Mars is lower than the gravity of Earth the requirements to the tensile strength of the rope is less, making this construction easier.
Original concept
The original concept for a "Space Tower" can be traced back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky[1], a Russian rocket and space pioneer. He is quoted as saying in 1895[2]:
- "...on the tower, as one climbed higher and higher up it, gravity would decrease gradually; and if it were constructed on the Earth's equator and, therefore, rapidly rotated together with the earth, the gravitation would disappear not only because of the distance from the centre of the planet, but also from the centrifugal force that is increasing proportionately to that distance. The gravitational force drops... but the centrifugal force operating in the reverse direction increases. On the earth the gravity is finally eliminated at the top of the tower, at an elevation of 5.5 radii of the earth (22,300 miles)..."
Naturally, the Space Tower whould be crushed under it's own weight, so the idea of a Space Elevator was born.
See also
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