Spike Spiegel
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A thought popped into my head and I thought I'd ask some of you more knowledgeable folks about it.
Let's say you build an artificial ring around a planet or a moon, like a truss or a tensile structure, something like that. As you build this ring, you of course put the sections up by launching them into orbit. You build thrusters at intervals along this ring, all the way around. You keep doing this until you've ringed the entire planet, joining the ends together.
Now, what if you fire the thrusters retrograde until the rotation of the ring stops? Does the structure stay "up", or does it collapse and fall to the planet?
I have a feeling I know what the answer is, but I want to see if I'm right or not.
Let's say you build an artificial ring around a planet or a moon, like a truss or a tensile structure, something like that. As you build this ring, you of course put the sections up by launching them into orbit. You build thrusters at intervals along this ring, all the way around. You keep doing this until you've ringed the entire planet, joining the ends together.
Now, what if you fire the thrusters retrograde until the rotation of the ring stops? Does the structure stay "up", or does it collapse and fall to the planet?
I have a feeling I know what the answer is, but I want to see if I'm right or not.