That’s the neat thing about geostationary orbit. If the station at the upper end has enough mass, its own centrifugal force keeps it anchored in its orbit.
It’s passed geostationary orbit. Geostationary orbit is balanced, but it needs centrifugal force pulling out. So, you need to be going faster than the orbit wants, hence, further out.
Except that you would drag it out of geostationary orbit every time you used it? Like no matter how heavy it is your still moving it closer every time you pull on the cable. You would need to constantly thrust equivalent to the mass of the cable and whatever the cable is pulling. At that point aren’t you still basically just launching shit?
mech@feddit.org 8 hours ago
No, the other end needs to be in geostationary orbit. Otherwise the wrapping of the cable around the equator will start a lot sooner.
UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 7 hours ago
How do you anchor the end in space so that you don’t just retract the cable every time you try to use it?
mech@feddit.org 7 hours ago
That’s the neat thing about geostationary orbit. If the station at the upper end has enough mass, its own centrifugal force keeps it anchored in its orbit.
MotoAsh@piefed.social 4 hours ago
It’s passed geostationary orbit. Geostationary orbit is balanced, but it needs centrifugal force pulling out. So, you need to be going faster than the orbit wants, hence, further out.
UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 6 hours ago
Except that you would drag it out of geostationary orbit every time you used it? Like no matter how heavy it is your still moving it closer every time you pull on the cable. You would need to constantly thrust equivalent to the mass of the cable and whatever the cable is pulling. At that point aren’t you still basically just launching shit?
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
If you figure that out give NASA a call, they’d be real interested.