The damage on the ground depends on a couple of things: first, how much heat can the cable take before evaporating, and second, what is the length of the cable, rotational speed, etc.
The comic in question (this reference has footnotes) deals with a space elevator on a terraformed Luna sometime in the 31st century, and makes quietly implicit speculative assumptions about strength of materials. No, the strip was not rigorously researched. The research was borrowed from Kim Stanley Robinson, in whose Red Mars novel we are treated to the spectacle of a space elevator coming down hard.
The elevator in Schlock Mercenary never does come down, though. After all, Kim Robinson already DID that gag.
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The damage on the ground depends on a couple of things: first, how much heat can the cable take before evaporating, and second, what is the length of the cable, rotational speed, etc.
The comic in question (this reference has footnotes) deals with a space elevator on a terraformed Luna sometime in the 31st century, and makes quietly implicit speculative assumptions about strength of materials. No, the strip was not rigorously researched. The research was borrowed from Kim Stanley Robinson, in whose Red Mars novel we are treated to the spectacle of a space elevator coming down hard.
The elevator in Schlock Mercenary never does come down, though. After all, Kim Robinson already DID that gag.
--Howard