On Sat, Feb 08, 2003 at 01:41:01AM +0000, Pigeon wrote: > On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 02:37:53PM -0600, John Hasler wrote: > > Pigeon writes: > > > It would be under tension, because the upper station is outside the > > > geosynchronous orbit. So the bit above the break would fly off into > > > space, and the lower bit would fall back. > > > > The tension would taper from nominally zero at the base to maximum at the > > attachment to the counterweight. > > Unless I'm totally screwed up I don't think this is right... > everything below the geosynchronous orbit is orbiting too slowly to > stay up on its own, everything above the geosynchronous orbit is > orbiting too fast to not fly off unless anchored. So the maximum > tension is where the cable crosses the geosynchronous orbit; there are > minima at BOTH ends. > > In theory, you wouldn't need a lumped counterweight - you could simply > extend the cable until the "loose end" had enough mass. This makes the > presence of a minimum at the outside end more obvious!
Isn't geostationary orbit ~22000 _miles_ above earth? That'd be one hell of a cable. -- Nathan Norman - Incanus Networking mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] I retract that silly statement. Somebody slap me. -- Roy Smith -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
