Attaching conductive cable to orbital object

A heavy, lengthy--say 20-30 km long--conductive cable attacjed to an Earth
orbiting object (the Shuttle), tests have shown a considerable electric
charge being generated as the cable speeds through Earth's electromagnetic
field, question is: Would the cable's mass and extension (length) decay or
other wise modify the object's orbit over time? (also consider an asteroid
or comet with a cable attached as a hypthetical scenario.)

R. Henry Nigl



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