| It's probably a dumb idea, but I am more interested in what's wrong than what's correct. The basic idea is static force to keep something from falling but that does not mean it's takes any energy. So, can you get a stable orbit that includes a single strong deflection in the direction of the earth? It's probably close to impossible due to targeting issues but in theory I think you can. Now as long as what's doing the reflection is not moving there should not be a significant exchange of energy between the two objects. Just lift on what's doing the deflecting and if there is some drag you could probably add energy from the tower to the satellites even as they provide static lifting force. Ok, well to lift something you need some extra force extracted from the orbiting satellites, but the energy to do the lifting is not taken from the orbiting satellites it's taken from the elevator / what's moving the car and you can just try an lift the ground when not lifting the car's weight. So, you could build an elevator that picks up car from the ground to above the atmosphere but the car is not going to have much orbital velocity as it's not at a Geosynchronous altitude. PS: I really like the idea of a space elevator but 32,000 miles is a long way and would take a lot of vary strong stuff. Edit: As to the orbital train idea think about removing the track and extending the train the full orbit. Edit2: Now to get some orbital velocity you could magnetic car that get's lift and energy from the moving rail to get into orbit. You would want to get into orbit before reaching the station again but you could do that with less than 3G. |