Codes and Publications
A 52-page self-contained textbook that takes complete beginners from MATLAB basics (up to ode45/ode15s) to space elevator physics — geostationary orbit, tether tension and taper design, payload release orbits, and tether dynamics — with a two-week self-study roadmap.
The capstone exercise builds a lumped-mass tether simulator reproducing the fundamental libration mode (±190 km tip oscillation, ~4.6-day period).
Prepared as an educational resource for SELECT (Space Elevator Challenge Tohoku); prerequisites are high-school mechanics and basic calculus only.
Related reading: J. Pearson, Acta Astronautica 2, 785–799 (1975); P. K. Aravind, Am. J. Phys. 75, 125–130 (2007); B. C. Edwards & E. A. Westling, The Space Elevator (2003).