Mombasa Tether

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The New Mombasa Orbital Elevator in Halo 3: ODST.

"The Mombasa space elevator!"
"It collapsed when the city got glassed."
"But the tether was thousands of kilometers high..."
"Yeah? Well now it's scattered all over the savannah."

— Two Marines discussing the fate of the Space Elevator.

The New Mombasa Orbital Elevator was a Space Elevator located at the heart of the East African Protectorate city of New Mombasa on Earth. It was used for lifting heavy ordnance from the surrounding port facilities into an orbital station at the top of the elevator structure, a transport method much cheaper and more efficient than booster rockets filled with expensive fuel. The company in charge of the management of the space elevator was called New Mombasa Uplift.

History

The orbital elevator still stands, although damaged, after the slipspace event.

In the dawn of the 24th century, Mombasa was chosen to be the Earth's first tether city. As a cheap gateway to space, the elevator is the key to New Mombasa's economic and strategic importance. The presence of the elevator radically changed the structure of the city - service roads and a Mag-lev line radiate out from its base, connecting it to nearby warehouses and factories. The elevator's base resides on an artificial island full of warehouses and docking facilities, to provide more docking space for incoming cargo vessels. And it was this influx of business and trade brought in by the elevator that made New Mombasa the metropolis it was by the time of the Covenant invasion.

During the Battle of Mombasa, the Prophet of Regret's Flagship initiated Slispace transition over the city, right beside the Orbital Elevator. The resulting shockwave swept through the structure, weakening it considerably. Under an hour later on the same day during the battle, the support structure collapsed and the tower finally gave way. Several pieces of debris crashed into the highway, while more fallout presumably caused considerable damage to buildings near the tether.

Eventually only a small portion of the lower support structure remained intact, even though heavily damaged. A large portion of the tower's debris was left scattered around Earth's surface, while most of the tether was pulled into space, likely ending up in an unstanble orbit around Earth.

Appearances

The space elevator as seen during the Halo 2 campaign, with Regret's flagship holding position nearby.

Halo 2

In Halo 2, the space elevator is visible throughout all the Earth levels, first as a thin line on the horizon in Outskirts, then later as a ringed tower in the skyline of Metropolis. Only at the end of that level is the player offered an unobstructed view of the structure from across the artificial canal.

At the end of the campaign level Metropolis, the flagship of the Prophet of Regret flees into slipspace with the In Amber Clad in hot pursuit. This in-atmosphere jump unleashes a wave of energy that scours the area. Originally this was thought to collapse the tower, but as seen in Halo 3: ODST, this wasn't the case.

Shattered rings from the elevator seen on Tsavo Highway.

Halo 3

The elevator was not seen again until the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer, in which several of its stabilizer rings lay shattered in the background hills. Concept art from the Halo 3 Zune confirmed that the wreckage of the space elevator would play an important part in the design of the Earth levels.

The elevator did make an appearance in the final game, with the player fighting through its ruins throughout Tsavo Highway and even hearing some dialogs concerning its fate from Marine allies.

The space elevator breaking and collapsing.

Halo 3: ODST

In Halo 3: ODST, the Space Elevator's base is located on an artificial island west of the city center, with MagLev Train lines leading to it, instead of the center of the Mombasa island in Halo 2. Its general appearance has also been changed, with a less massive base structure and an additional support structure in the lower part of the tether. The player is able to witness the actual collapse and failure of the elevator during a flashback mission from the perspective of Corporal Taylor "Dutch" Miles.

Trivia

• When the elevator snaps, the upper half is sucked into space, while the lower half, as well as some debris from the upper half, is scattered across the landscape. Original concepts show that the tether was supposed to simply fall to the ground in its entirety, instead of the upper half being pulled into space. This was likely changed for realism, as if a space elevator was to be cut at its anchor point on Earth's surface, the outward force exerted by the counterweight would cause the entire elevator to rise upward into an unstable orbit.

Gallery

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  The New Mombasa Orbital Elevator in Halo 2, as seen in a 3D model viewer.

• H3 Outskirts 1.jpg

  The elevator's stabilizer rings lie shattered on the savannah in this concept art for Tsavo Highway.

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  The tower as seen from Old Mombasa.

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  An ad for New Mombasa Uplift, with the Orbital Elevator in its logo.

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  After being cut, the elevator's cable is pulled into space, while scattering its stabilizer rings across the landscape.

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  Concept art of the damaged space elevator in Halo 3: ODST.

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  The space elevator island after the tether's collapse.