I don't think wind is a concern. The cable will be far stronger than any material we currently know. Disturbance of the anchor point is more of a concern. If the wind increases the stress on the anchor point
then maybe it would be a problem. Very rough seas if it's a platform at sea, or earthquakes if it's on land, could damage the anchorage and break the link.
That's an interesting thought on 'reeling up' the cable to avoid ground problems. If the system is well balanced I suppose it would be possible to detach from the ground point for periods of time. It would be easier to do this if there was an 'intermediate' station only a few hundred miles up. A seperate cable from this station to the ground would be easier to 'reel up' than a portion of the whole 22,000 mile cable. The 'convenience' of going straight to geosynch orbit would be lost but maybe the other convenience from this multi-stage arrangement would be worth the change. Most uses would be for near-earth orbit at first anyway. Once you got into true orbit there would be plenty of leeway for fancy arrangements of cables and stations.
Now I'm having visions of a system of a web of giant cables all around the earth and cable cars running between all points like subways in a large city today. Come to think of it, if you have multiple geosynch stations linked by a 'perimeter' of cables you'd be released from the necessaity of the ground link. They'd hold each other in orbit. Hundreds of thousands of miles of cable would be required for this, though.
Just don't let a huge system like that get out of synch with the earth!
[ October 09, 2002, 16:17: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]
Re: OT: About Space Elevators
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