There's a description of what happens in Ben Bova's "Mars" series. I think it's in "Red Mars". In that one, the cable keeps wrapping itself around the planet u

There's a description of what happens in Ben Bova's "Mars" series. I think it's in "Red Mars". In that one, the cable keeps wrapping itself around the planet until it's all down, and it's white-hot like a string of meteorites.