The Terra station, the base of operations of the Lantea space elevator, is a land bearing anchor that connects to the space anchor Atlas station. This is where passengers and cargo are loaded en route to Atlas, space, and beyond. Terra however is only one component of four in total, completing the space elevator. The undoubted advancements in completing Terra is insurmountable to say the least.
From an architecture standpoint, the Terra station is not much of a design wonder. Through an engineer’s lens however, the breakthroughs are impeccable. The dome shaped design of the station helps house the base Nexus cable, as it is the main tether to Earth. The Nexus connection doesn’t start at the top of Terra, rather at the base of it. Terra’s overall round dome shape is duplicated and reciprocated with the Atlas station, the space orbiting anchor tethering the other end of the Nexus.
Four tendrils stemming from core of the station help anchor Terra, as it carries on underground continuing as roots. These “roots” help integrate the whole of Terra station to the planet, cementing it as a land bearing anchor. The stems are designed and engineered to be flexible, enough to accommodate the predicted tension of the Nexus cable. The green lights indicate stability on each wing of the station, turning red where there’s an imbalance on the Nexus cable due to a number of natural planet wide forces, main ones being gravity and wind.
With Terra being only one component of a four-piece marvel, It’s importance is still significant. Other designs for the Earth anchors included a sea based anchor and a mountain top tether. Both of which are incredible ideas on their own and all had their impressive pros. Ultimately, Terra was constructed on land and not at sea, on a plane and not a mountain top. Terra came close to being a mountain top station however, but it was only due to accessibility to the station that it was decided a plane surface would suffice, so as to accommodate a ports of different kinds, a spaceport being one.