The tether is always in tension, in general the payload is allowed to be in either tension (if attached to the tether on the "top") or compression (if in a pouch of the same material as the tether, e.g. shepherd's sling configuration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)), at the preference of the system designer.

It’s a good point: I’d assumed that the plan was to make the payload of basically the same material as the tether/structure, and have it destructively tear-off at the right moment (maybe by having a watching supervisor structure lasering a weak point)

But I think pouching the payload (presumably forming the structure around the payload) just translates the problem into holding a 8kg steel block to the ceiling with 1cm square of paper formed into a harness, and expecting it to hold for weeks.

Either way - hopefully it will be addressed in a follow-up