Orbital tether snap like a rubber band?

Let's say a few centuries in the future, we have captured an asteroid into orbit and built a space station out of its material. The station is a ring that encircles the equator in Low Earth Orbit, tethered by multiple cables and moves with the planet at orbital speed.

The first parts of the station were built several centuries before the last ones, and is in constant refit to update older tech with newer advancements. The tethers are made out of a strong material like graphene or nanothreads, and are large enough to allow a space elevator to travel through.

Let's say there is a catastrophe in one of the older sections, one of the old tethers sheers away from the station with great force. What would happen to the cable as it fell to Earth? Is it possible for it to snap to the earth like a rubber band? Would it need to be made of a different material for it to do this, or is it a physical impossibility? How extensive would the damage on earth be, and how far away could the effects be felt? And what effect would the catastrophe have on the station itself?

Alternatively, would there be a major difference if the tether were instead to break in the middle? my understanding is the top half would float along with the Coriolis force, but could the bottom half snap to the ground or would it just fall over?

I've read Blaise Gassend's thoughts on space elevators, but his examples seem to be for a tether that extends into GEO, well past this particular station. Would the mechanics of his simulated tether breaks be relatively the same for a much shorter tether?

posted almost 5 years ago

carsonogen089‭

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