# dragging a thread from space **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726 "2004-12-20T02:45:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dulcidude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6f9a4e/32.png) [@dulcidude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dulcidude)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/1 "2004-12-20T02:45:12Z")
If I’m not mistaken, geosynchronous orbits are those where the object in space appears to be “stopped” when viewed from the ground, meaning that from any spot on earth you might be able to look straight up to see a stationary satellite. Would it be possible therefore to lower a line through the atmosphere to touch the ground and possibly bring up supplies (that’d be one heck of a winch). Yeah, obviously the jet stream, airplanes, birds and the occasional hurricane would make such a proposition impossible. Wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/2 "2004-12-20T02:49:10Z")
[Good in theory…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/3 "2004-12-20T02:51:43Z")
UNtil recently this was thought to be impossible, but some scientists are now proposing a [space elevator](http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html) that will do exactly that: > [@](#): > > For a space elevator to function, a cable with one end attached to the Earth’s surface stretches upwards, reaching beyond geosynchronous orbit, at 21,700 miles (35,000-kilometer altitude). After that, simple physics takes charge. > > The competing forces of gravity at the lower end and outward centripetal acceleration at the farther end keep the cable under tension. The cable remains stationary over a single position on Earth. This cable, once in position, can be scaled from Earth by mechanical means, right into Earth orbit. An object released at the cable’s far end would have sufficient energy to escape from the gravity tug of our home planet and travel to neighboring the moon or to more distant interplanetary targets. Practically speaking though, we are probably decades away from actually doing this. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/4 "2004-12-20T02:51:46Z")
I guess we’re going to find out. [This group](http://www.spaceelevator.com/) of very serious people plans to lower a line (well, really a belt) from a geosynchronously orbiting station, attach it to earth, and run an elevator up and down it. It seems like they’ve put a lot of thought into it and the basic theory is sound enough. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/5 "2004-12-20T03:35:26Z")
Previous space elevator threads: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/6 "2004-12-20T03:41:09Z")
OK, I don’t know why that submitted, but let’s try again. Previous space elevator threads, since Guests cannot search: > **[Bullwhip To Space?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=280040)** > > The thought processes behind this one are something I’d rather not get into at the moment, but I just had an idea… Ok, so to start off with, the bullwhip. Everybody knows what I’m talking about… handle, length of rawhide, ya flip yer wrist and... > **[Doesn't Space Elevator Need CounterElevator?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263945)** > > If you built this space elevator, won’t it be necessary to have a “counterelevator”, so to speak, located 180 degrees away? - Jinx > **[Could an astronaut (or anyone else) be lowered from space w/o burning up?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=254529)** > > Well? Could a person be lowered into the atmosphere from space (say, at the level the shuttle flies) without burning up upon re-entry if it were done slowly enough? > **[What would be the gravity at the top of a "space elevator"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=169721)** > > The concept of a “space elevator” or “beanstalk” is one I’ve sometimes encountered in science fiction, and a last year “Popular Mechanics” had a cover story on the idea. In sum, you tow an asteroid into geosynchronous orbit around the Earth (or... > **[Getting Off the Space Elevator](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166286)** > > Do you have to go all the way to the top of a space elevator? Would it be possible to stop say 200 KM above the surface and launch a low Earth orbit satellite from there? Would it have enough velocity to maintain an orbit, or would it just fall? > **[Why can't you get past the Earth's atmoshere slowly?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=151109)** > > I was watching JEOPARDY! tonight, and the final jeopardy answer was something like: 24,527 (or close to that) mph is needed to achieve this. The correct question was something like: What speed do you need to achieve to escape the Earth’s atmosphere?... > **[Feasible space elevator?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=145308)** > > I know this has been discussed before, but it is appearing the whole space elevator idea is looking rapidly more feasible. A company called HighLift Systems intendes to test prototype technologies for the space elevator in the next few years... > **[Space.. um... ladders?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=135471)** > > First off, I do more asking then answering here(and judging by my number of posts, which I don’t know, my guess is its lower than 10, its not a good sign), not specifically on purpose, but y’all are smart, for the most part anyway .) Anyway, I was... Another Board Favorite™ ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/7 "2004-12-21T17:08:49Z")
I first saw this idea postulated in a book by Arthur C. Clarke, _The Fountains of Paradise_. Although it was science fiction, the idea always seemed reasonable to me. Looks like he may have been right! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/8 "2004-12-21T17:42:59Z")
The late physicist Charles Sheffield independently conceived the idea for his novel _The Web Between the Worlds_, published essentially simultaneously with Clarke’s novel. One of the great coincidences in the history of sf. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dragging-a-thread-from-space/280726/9 "2004-12-21T18:32:58Z")
> [@SavageNarce](#): > > I first saw this idea postulated in a book by Arthur C. Clarke, _The Fountains of Paradise_. Although it was science fiction, the idea always seemed reasonable to me. Looks like he may have been right! When I was a child, there was a dramatic radio show (yes, I’m that old 🙂 ) that occasionally did what, at the time, passed as science fiction. One story was called _Stairway to the Sun_, in which a system of stairs and plateaus had been built or discovered that reached from earth to “other places.” I wasn’t clear on what the other places were, I was 6, so I don’t remeber much.