Do you guys think it would be possible to launch a typical sized space shuttle using some kind of rail gun technology with the energy sources we have today (like nuclear power). If so how fast do think it could be done?
Name:
Anonymous2006-06-01 0:55
What you're thinking of is a mass driver, not a rail gun per se. The Earth's strong gravity and atmosphere would get in the way of clean launches, but i could see a mass driver being used to launch raw materials or small cargo shuttles off the Moon or a large asteroid.
I don't think this would work for earth because I don't think anything we could build would be able to withstand the forces of atmospheric friction at 7miles per second. As for making one on the moon, it would be possible, but I'm still not sure how I feel about launching something at ~1MPS. if it hits *anything* it would be obliterated. even in the case that all we are launching is raw materials, obliteration means that your nice slug of a projectile become a wad of shot headed towards earth and all it's satilites. not a plesant thought.
Name:
Anonymous2006-06-02 1:41
>>5
This exact thing happens often in science fiction. Lunar colonists go to war with earth, use mass drivers for kickass bombardment.