Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
Because 70 miles up the orbit isn't geosynchronous, so the station portion of the tether would orbit away minutes after you place it and break the tether.
Geostationary orbit is 22,236 miles up, if you put the station there it'll (mostly) stay where you put it in relation to a point on the earth's surface, minimizing the tension on the cable due to the station.
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with a large enough counterweight, couldn't you place the station a lot closer to the Earth?