3 ms·
Even if you could react and cut the cable in 1 ms, if the counterweight is disconnected, the rest of the cable is coming down to Earth.
by Atheros 8y ago
Even if you could react and cut the cable in 1 ms, if the counterweight is disconnected, the rest of the cable is coming down to Earth.
- Turbots 8y agoAnd most of it will probably burn up at reentry, although some of it will fall into the ocean. Isaac Arthur runs over all the options to prevent this from even happening in his Upward Bound series, eg. automatically breaking up the cable in parts by blowing fuses and having parachutes on all the parts to slow them down.
- vorg 8y agoDepending on what it's made of, a break in the cable wouldn't be instantaneous, but happen in stages. Perhaps cut the earth end at the red alert stage up top.