Space Elevator Tether Tension Simulator

A space elevator's cable does not just hang — it is stretched between two competing forces along its entire length: Earth's gravity, which pulls every segment inward, and the centrifugal effect of corotating with the planet once a day, which pushes every segment beyond geostationary orbit outward. This simulator numerically integrates that force balance from the surface to a counterweight anchored past GEO, producing the real tension profile T(r) and the resulting material stress. Choose a material, a cable radius and a counterweight mass to see whether the design survives its own tension, and compare a uniform cross-section against an optimally tapered one to see why every serious proposal depends on a material with an extreme strength-to-weight ratio.