[NicknamedBob]

"You have to be going a certain speed to "miss" Venus' horizon and stay in orbit. This isn't because of how fast Venus is rotating, but because of how much it "weighs". If you are going less than this speed, then you need some kind of thrust to counteract Venus' gravity. The Skyhook only works because it anchors a mass in ORBIT at orbital velocities."

Aside from the labels, and the fact that the "fixed point" of the "surface" will be moving at 300 miles per hour, this is a remarkably accurate drawing of a skyhook for Venus.

Skyhook

Just imagine that Earth's rotation has slowed to a four-day "day" and that our orbital altitude has to be extended accordingly.

Also note that plans for an Earth Space Elevator call for the ground station to be free-floating on the ocean, a circumstance not dissimilar to a station floating in Venus' ocean of carbon dioxide.

Also please note: The above diagram and similar others show the situation as it would appear to an observer in the fixed rotation viewpoint of Earth. That is, this is the situation as it appears to the ground station observer, but re-oriented to the side.

The anchoring mass for the tremendous gravitational pull of the hanging skyhook tether is orbiting. On a polar view, one would see a mass orbiting a planet at thousands of kilometers distance and very high velocity, while the planet leisurely rotates in the center. The fact that the orbiting object remains oriented over the same ground point does not mean it is not moving.

[Monkey Face]

As to your Skyhook: WHATEVER YOU DO, BOB!!! DON’T LET GOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo.....................

[Dead Corpse]

Well why didn't you say so?

Since the wind goes around the planet quite reliably at about a hundred hours, I propose linking the balloon to a similarly rotating position less than 150,000 klicks up.

Oh... you did.

Well then...

Er...

What about the fart smell?