[r9etb]

So, you have that object moving at tens of thousands of miles per hour -- sideways -- and, you want to lower it to ground level. Well, that sideways velocity has to go somewhere -- and the only place to put it is to sink it into the "elevator" ribbon.

No -- you've just got to move something up at the same time, so that the CM of the system remains at GEO. What that essentially means is, you've got to launch twice the mass of the cable in order to get the cable to the ground.

[Don Joe]

No -- you've just got to move something up at the same time, so that the CM of the system remains at GEO. What that essentially means is, you've got to launch twice the mass of the cable in order to get the cable to the ground.

You're describing a rigid post, not a sinewy ribbon.