remains in a single location above the equator of Earth. A cable is then built and lowered towards Earth while a second cable, providing a counterweight, is built upward from the station and remains in place due to tidal forces. When the structure is complete, elevator-like cars can ride the cable into space. The main problem is that no known substance that can be manufactured in large quantities has the tensile strength needed to stretch from GEO to the surface. Orbital rings use a different mechanism. In the orbital ring version, a kinetic ring is moving around the world at a higher speed than circular orbital velocity. This results in a net outward force that is countered by gravity acting on the stationary components. This can be accomplished at any altitude, although building the system above in order to avoid most of the atmosphere is a practical requirement. A cable is then lowered from the ring to the ground and used in the same fashion as a traditional space elevator, with the difference being that the vertical cable is only instead of long. This length is within the capabilities of several known materials. In order to support the elevator, the ring is not circular but slightly elliptical. Two or more stations are placed at the high ends of the path, but below the point where the orbit's apogee would be normally. The station bends the cable downward as it passes through in order to produce an upward force on the station. The resulting orbit for a two station system looks something more akin to an American football than a rounded ellipse. One can reduce the amount of tension in the orbiting ring to any required level by increasing the amount of lift generated by bending the cable. The main downside is that the elevator cable is now suspended from the high point of the system, rather than being close to the ground. The moving ring does not need to be solid and does not need to be entirely encased by a solid sheath. Instead, a large number of individual magnetic objects can be placed in the desired orbit, and the stations deflect their path using magnets as they pass by. This version of the ring has the advantage of being much simpler to construct, as each element in the ring is completely separate and can be launched individually and requires