Is it possible to connect a long rope (excluding the danger of it's breaking) to a geostationary space station and use it to transport food and other necessary item's to the station and then delivering it to international space station or any other place where it is required?
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2$\begingroup$ Tip: Before asking a new question it is a good idea to search for possible related posts. They may already contain the answer you are looking for. $\endgroup$– Qmechanic ♦Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 14:56
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$\begingroup$ Oh.. sorry I will keep it in mind next time i ask a question $\endgroup$– DeiknymiCommented Mar 17, 2013 at 15:13
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$\begingroup$ physics.stackexchange.com/questions/277688/… $\endgroup$– MuzeCommented Sep 2, 2016 at 15:39
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No, this is not possible because the weight of any rope that is the necessary 35 600 km long would very quickly pull the station out of orbit. Furthermore, since the station is effectively weightless in orbit, the act of hoisting something with weight up from the surface would create a reaction force on the station that would again pull it down long before the package left the surface.
Now suppose you countered these by using boosters on the station to keep it in orbit. The amount of fuel and energy you would require to use to achieve this would be equal to or greater than the amount of fuel and energy you require to use a rocket to blast it into geostationary orbit anyway
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$\begingroup$ At least one scheme I've seen has a "balancing" rope heading off into space so that the station's centre of mass is still at geostationary orbit. $\endgroup$– ChrisFCommented May 8, 2013 at 14:54
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$\begingroup$ Putting the infeasibility problems with that aside, that may fix the initial problem, but the station will still be dragged down once you attempt to lift a package of arbitrary mass; the extending rope will no longer balance the forces unless it can be extended and there is a rocket attached to the far end to adjust the angular momentum as the package moves upward $\endgroup$– JimCommented May 8, 2013 at 14:59
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$\begingroup$ why to use boosters can't we change the radius of the orbit of the space station and balance the weight of the rope and the cargo by the cetrifugal force to transport it. It will be more easier and efiicent way rather than using boosters $\endgroup$– DeiknymiCommented May 10, 2013 at 7:28
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$\begingroup$ No because there is no such thing as centrifugal force. Beyond that, I am not clear on what you mean. $\endgroup$– JimCommented May 10, 2013 at 17:15
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