How high would a space elevator need to be on Mars?

So I have been doing a lot of reading on space elevators/tethers for a SciFi book I am writing and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info on building one on Mars rather than Earth or the moon. Despite some handwavium for the necessary material science, I imagine it would be quite a bit easier to build one since Mars has around .38 Earth's gravity.

My book would place the elevator on top of Pavonis Mons which lies nearly on top of the equator. This should give me a head start of 14 km and negate most of the tidal effects from Mars rotation. The design would be more along the lines of Halo (elevator car inside tube rather than around cable).

Although I have a long, complicated construction method that supposedly explains the structure is able to continuously transfer fuel and power through hoses that run the length of the elevator along with the 3-6 (undecided) elevator cars that it lifts magnetically like a vertical maglev train. The only thing I haven't really worked out as far as the design is concerned is how to deal with Phobos as it regularly crosses the equator at around only 9,300 km above Mars.

From what I understand, a cable from Earth would need to be around 35,786 km to reach the appropriate height. Would it be as simple as multiplying by Martian gravity, giving me the simple answer of 13,599 km above Mars?

Also, would there be a better location to place the elevator other than near the equator so that Phobos isn't an issue? This of course would require me to come up with something for the rotational effects.

posted over 6 years ago

TitaniumTurtle‭

1 reputation 14 0 0 0