Taper Sizing for a Static Geostationary Orbital Tether: Specific-Strength and Mass Budgets

This study sizes the system named in its title from stated physical relations and a stated operating basis, and reports the result as SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. The operating principle is static orbital tether taper sizing under gravity and centrifugal loading. The tether is a civilian transport system intended to carry cargo and passengers between the surface and orbit; it carries no payload other than transport cargo, station equipment and inspection instruments. Every performance figure is computed by the deposited script from its inputs rather than asserted, and the headline outcomes include geostationary radius of 4.22e+04 kilometres; taper ratio between geostationary and anchor cross-sections of 12.45; ribbon cross-section at geostationary radius of 2.5 square centimetres; total ribbon mass of 2.08e+04 tonnes. Mass, power, time and energy budgets are assembled from components so they can be audited line by line, off-design behaviour is discussed openly, and the limits of the sizing are stated in full. The design is presented as a civilian system throughout, with its governing constraint identified and quantified rather than merely encountered.