Ropes in space?

Question

I don't know how to explain in words so ...
O = Earth, -- = Rope, ) = atmosphere, >> = shuttle.

O ) -->> what if the rope is long enough to drop down to earth from a shuttle in orbit.
O -)->> rope enters the atmosphere

Can the rope be held in mid air just like magic or will the rope pull the shuttle down.

Answer 1

Well first of all the space shuttle could hold about 20 tons or something of stuff, so 20 tons = 20,000,000 grams.
And assuming rope is about 1 gram/cm^3 and 1 cm thick it could be 250 km long, which is enough (they could always use thinner rope)

As for space, there's enough room (a 10 foot cube of packed rope?)

How would you get the rope down once you release it? In space everything is floating.

By attatching a rocket thruster to the end, and shooting it backwards at hundreds of miles per hour, it will eventually deorbit
and pull the rest of it down with it.

Once it reaches the Earth's atmosphere the end will burn up, because it is still traveling over 17,000 mph.

However, what happens when there's hundreds of miles an hour differential between two ends of a rope? That's right the rope breaks.

You could solve that by using a thicker rope, a stronger rope, maybe a steel rope or a spider web rope or a nanotube rope.

One thing that is helping the rope though is that different parts of the rope are orbiting at different velocities, there's no sharp transition.

So if the tension is only 1 mph per thousand feet of rope (times several tons), then maybe it will live, especially if it's steel.

I would assume it would drag the shuttle down some (the part that doesn't burn up), and prematurely quicken it's orbit decay, by how much I don't know.

Answer 2

The rope would weigh an exceptionally large amount.
The shuttle flies at least 100 miles up. It has a maximum altitude of about 600 miles. Geosynchronous orbit is about 31,000 miles from the center of the earth or about 27,000 miles above the surface of the earth.
Hanging a rope from the Space Shuttle would drag the rope through the air near the ground at several thousands of miles per hour. No known material can survive the heat that would be generated. In addition the drag would pull the Space Shuttle with more force than it's engines can produce. The shuttle would soon be brought back to earth. In addition the rope would weigh so much that the shuttle could not lift it into space in all the shuttle launches that have been done. In addition any conventional rope would break from it's own weight hanging that far.
From Geosynchronous orbit one could let out 2 ropes in opposite directions the forces would exactly match. The rope would have to be a very special rope that is stronger than the composite materials used today to build airplanes. With technology available today it is not possible.

Answer 3

The set up that you are attempting to visualize is similar to a theoretical device for lifting payloads into orbit called a space elevator. Basically a satellite is place in geosynchronous orbit above the earth and a super strong filament (our rope) is extended from the satellite to a position on the ground. A lifting vehicle uses the rope to assist its accent into orbit. The space elevator is mathematically possible but unfortunately humans cannot construct a rope sturdy enough to withstand the stresses of such a configuration. I believe Arthur C. Clark once wrote a story about such a device.

Answer 4

The weight of such a long piece of rope would pull the shuttle down, or the stresses would be too much and would break the rope

Answer 5

It seems you want the rope to be motionless with relation to the ground. There is only one height at which the shuttle would be motionless relative to the ground. It is about 22,000 miles. So you would need that much rope.

Depending on the rope you use, that much rope could outweigh the shuttle. Your question does not specify enough about the rope to be answerable.

Answer 6

Yup! yet what's holding the rope up? escape velocity is v from a million/2*m*v^2 linked with a undeniable altitude y1, such that the Kinetic capability the mass has at y1 is reminiscent of the aptitude capability between altitude = infinity and y1.