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Mombasa Tether: Difference between revisions
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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 [[MagLev Train|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 Empire|Covenant]] [[Battle of Earth|invasion]]. | 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 [[MagLev Train|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 Empire|Covenant]] [[Battle of Earth|invasion]]. | ||
During the [[Battle of Mombasa]], the [[Prophet of Regret]] | During the [[Battle of Mombasa]], the elevator was shut down.<ref name="story">''[[Halo 3: ODST]], [[Sadie's Story]]''</ref> When the [[Prophet of Regret]] retreated, his [[Regret's Carrier|Flagship]] initiated [[Slipstream Space|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, the damage from the Slispace rupture was too much for the support structure to handle. It exploded at multiple points, and the tether snapped at some hundred meters above the surface. The upper portion of the tether was instantly pulled upward by its orbital counterweight, now severed from the anchor point. The lower section collapsed, leaving only a small portion of the lower support structure intact, even though heavily damaged. Several pieces of debris crashed around the city and the surrounding area, while more fallout presumably caused considerable damage to buildings near the tether.<ref>''[[Halo 3: ODST]] campaign level [[Uplift Reserve (Level)|Uplift Reserve]]''</ref> | |||
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. | |||
<ref name="spaceflight">http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/a-hoist-to-the-heavens</ref> While the upper portion of the tower was slowly pulled up into space, debris such as support rings and cables rained down to the surface far as the town of [[Voi]] and its surrounding regions, leaving large areas littered with debris and damaging infrastructure, such as the [[Tsavo Highway (Location)|Tsavo Highway]]. By the end of the [[Human-Covenant War]] on March, [[2553]], some debris from the elevator still remained in the area near Voi.<ref>''[[Halo 3]]''</ref> | |||
== Appearances == | == Appearances == | ||
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== Trivia == | == 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.<ref name="spaceflight"/> | *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.<ref name="spaceflight"/> | ||
*Several maps of New Mombasa seen during the [[Audio Log]]s in ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' show the Mag-Lev lines from the space elevator's base leading to the Mombasa island. However, as seen in-game as well as several other maps, the train lines lead only to the mainland north of the elevator.<ref name="story"/> | |||
== Gallery == | == Gallery == | ||