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Originally Posted by Daradon
Wouldn't a space elevator be very susceptible to (terrorist/war) attacks? Even if it didn't cause a lot of damage to the surrounding area (as I'm assuming if it broke it might actually get flung out into space from the centrifugal force?) it sure would be a waste of a lot of money if it broke for whatever reason. Wouldn't be something you'd want to rebuild.
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For sure, I'm pretty sure I've even read that scenario in a few different sci-fi books.
The station itself wouldn't go anywhere (since it's in geosynchronous orbit), as long as you disconnected from the counterweight soon enough.
And imagine 20,000km of cable falling to earth (if you manged to sever it with a bomb in the elevator for example), even if it's thin that's still super massive. Or taking out other satellites as it flails around in space while falling.