[admin]

I was so impressed about where this kids head's at that I had to post this for all to view.

I was talking to my nephew, who has Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism), and he asked me this question. Quite honestly I don' t know the answer.

"If a satellite is in a geostationary orbit and it is tethered to an appropriately proportioned device in the earth's atmosphere would it act as an anchor? Would this allow the device to effectively hang in the sky?"


What do you say to that?
".....uh......( feeling dumb in the presence of a twelve year old ) that's a good question. Try and find the answer and get back to me."

[swoop]

Flabberghasted Flummoxed AAAAAAAAND completely perplexed!!!!!!! ..... ??????????????

[Shamrock]

A similar thing happened to me over 20 years ago when my nephew (then aged 4) asked me what my favourite constellation was! I could barely spell the word. He is now doing a doctorate in astral geology or some such high brow science. Out of the mouth of babes!

[SkyBuffalo]

Well, here's my semi-layman's response as an ex-meteorologist (it's been about a decade) and not as a physics/astronomy specialist.

The object could be tethered to the satellite in geostationary orbit, but both objects would have to be positioned to STAY in geostationary orbit, i.e. you could not have a satellite in geostationary orbit, then suddenly attach something to it. This would change the satellite's weight/mass/etc. and drag it out of orbit, most likely. You would have to take the entire assembly (satellite, object and tether) and put it in the appropriate orbit location/speed for it's total mass.

Another factor is that the object could not be hanging too far down into the earth's atmosphere. If the object is too far down, the friction/drag from the earth's atmosphere would pull on the object and thus the satellite, pulling the entire setup out of orbit. An earthly example would be hanging a bottle on a rope out the floor entrance to a treehouse during a windstorm. The wind would be pulling on the bottle, which would pull on your hand holding the rope, even though the wind might be calm inside the treehouse. Basically the satellite's hanging object would still have to be in space (or on the outer fringes of the earth's atmosphere, like the satellite) for the entire setup to remain in orbit. With that in mind, i.e. the entire setup is basically in space, I think you could hang a fairly heavy/large object from the satellite, if all were put into the correct place for a geostationary orbit.

Consider the space shuttle with an astronaut taking a spacewalk on a long tether. If the astronaut was further out in space (i.e. farther away from the earth than the space shuttle), then this would basically be like the satellite (astronaut) with a very large object (space shuttle) in geostationary orbit below it.

So, in theory, basically, with limitations, it could be done. It just takes the correct humongous amount of calculations that NASA does every day. Now where did I put that CRAY?

[Folgore]

Send the li'l Einstein to these sites:
www.spaceelevator.com/directory
www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html
...they'll keep him busy for hours, I'm sure.

I don't know about hanging things from satellites, but the idea of a space elevator, while far out, is not implausible.

[Captain Eddie]

Originally Posted by SkyBuffalo

Well, here's my semi-layman's response as an ex-meteorologist (it's been about a decade) and not as a physics/astronomy specialist.

The object could be tethered to the satellite in geostationary orbit, but both objects would have to be positioned to STAY in geostationary orbit, i.e. you could not have a satellite in geostationary orbit, then suddenly attach something to it. This would change the satellite's weight/mass/etc. and drag it out of orbit, most likely. You would have to take the entire assembly (satellite, object and tether) and put it in the appropriate orbit location/speed for it's total mass.

Another factor is that the object could not be hanging too far down into the earth's atmosphere. If the object is too far down, the friction/drag from the earth's atmosphere would pull on the object and thus the satellite, pulling the entire setup out of orbit. An earthly example would be hanging a bottle on a rope out the floor entrance to a treehouse during a windstorm. The wind would be pulling on the bottle, which would pull on your hand holding the rope, even though the wind might be calm inside the treehouse. Basically the satellite's hanging object would still have to be in space (or on the outer fringes of the earth's atmosphere, like the satellite) for the entire setup to remain in orbit. With that in mind, i.e. the entire setup is basically in space, I think you could hang a fairly heavy/large object from the satellite, if all were put into the correct place for a geostationary orbit.

Consider the space shuttle with an astronaut taking a spacewalk on a long tether. If the astronaut was further out in space (i.e. farther away from the earth than the space shuttle), then this would basically be like the satellite (astronaut) with a very large object (space shuttle) in geostationary orbit below it.

So, in theory, basically, with limitations, it could be done. It just takes the correct humongous amount of calculations that NASA does every day. Now where did I put that CRAY?

SkyBuffalo, for a wabbit, you're pretty smart!

[jim]

Originally Posted by SkyBuffalo

Well, here's my semi-layman's response as an ex-meteorologist (it's been about a decade) and not as a physics/astronomy specialist.

The object could be tethered to the satellite in geostationary orbit, but both objects would have to be positioned to STAY in geostationary orbit, i.e. you could not have a satellite in geostationary orbit, then suddenly attach something to it. This would change the satellite's weight/mass/etc. and drag it out of orbit, most likely. You would have to take the entire assembly (satellite, object and tether) and put it in the appropriate orbit location/speed for it's total mass.

Another factor is that the object could not be hanging too far down into the earth's atmosphere. If the object is too far down, the friction/drag from the earth's atmosphere would pull on the object and thus the satellite, pulling the entire setup out of orbit. An earthly example would be hanging a bottle on a rope out the floor entrance to a treehouse during a windstorm. The wind would be pulling on the bottle, which would pull on your hand holding the rope, even though the wind might be calm inside the treehouse. Basically the satellite's hanging object would still have to be in space (or on the outer fringes of the earth's atmosphere, like the satellite) for the entire setup to remain in orbit. With that in mind, i.e. the entire setup is basically in space, I think you could hang a fairly heavy/large object from the satellite, if all were put into the correct place for a geostationary orbit.

Consider the space shuttle with an astronaut taking a spacewalk on a long tether. If the astronaut was further out in space (i.e. farther away from the earth than the space shuttle), then this would basically be like the satellite (astronaut) with a very large object (space shuttle) in geostationary orbit below it.

So, in theory, basically, with limitations, it could be done. It just takes the correct humongous amount of calculations that NASA does every day. Now where did I put that CRAY?

Yup but dont forget the drag factor, the satellite would have to have a power over drag ratio of its own weight plus the weight of the attached line. Otherwise it would just wrap itself around the world as it rotated.

[slammin]

From the little I remember from doing this, I would generally agree with skybuffalo. For added fun remember that gravitational force is dependent on distance.

[Old Crow]

Great question but it will not work because an object can be in geostationary orbit (where it appears to be fixed in the sky relative to a certain point on the Earth) only at an altitude where the object's period of orbit is equal to the Earth's period of rotation. This is known as a sidereal day and for satellites the altitude is a little over 22,000 miles. So, the other object would have to be at the same altitude.

It's all very Newtonian.

[SKUNKY]

You guys talk about the most mindless juvenile junk....Let's get back to talking about 21st Century Toys and man-dollies and important grown-up stuff like that...