Editing Space elevator (section)

===Counterweight===
[[File:Nasa space elev.jpg|thumb|Space elevator with space station]]
Several solutions have been proposed to act as a counterweight:
* a heavy, captured [[asteroid]]<ref name="NASASci" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popsci.com/building-hanging-from-an-asteroid/ |title=This building hanging from an asteroid is absurd – but let's take it seriously for a second |work=Popular Science |first=Sara |last=Chodosh |date=29 March 2017 |language=en|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref>
* a [[space dock]], [[space station]] or [[spaceport]] positioned past geostationary orbit
* a further upward extension of the cable itself so that the net upward pull would be the same as an equivalent counterweight
* parked spent climbers that had been used to thicken the cable during construction, other junk, and material lifted up the cable for the purpose of increasing the counterweight.<ref name="PhaseII">Edwards BC, Westling EA. (2002) ''The Space Elevator: A Revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation System.'' San Francisco, California: Spageo Inc. {{ISBN|0-9726045-0-2}}.</ref>
Extending the cable has the advantage of some simplicity of the task and the fact that a payload that went to the end of the counterweight-cable would acquire considerable velocity relative to the Earth, allowing it to be launched into interplanetary space. Its disadvantage is the need to produce greater amounts of cable material as opposed to using just anything available that has mass.