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Forbidden planet: was Pluto’s 2006 demotion a big mistake?
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
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Space
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking
They're apparently tidally-locked, so that's one issue out of the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)
So it's pretty close to a circular orbit.
But it'd still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.
Maybe this is crazy, but make it a giant jumprope. When they're closer together, the jumprope makes a tighter circle and spins faster. When they're further apart, the jumprope makes a larger circle. Put a weight in the middle so it has enough centripetal force to keep the rope taut.
Trust me, it works, I thought about it for two minutes.
If humanity ever were to have the means to build a 12.2k mile or 19.7k km elevator in space between two planets at the far reach of the solar system, I would assume that we would also be capable of somehow making it longer
Gotta think that's less (ratio wise) than expansion joints in bridges.