Magnetic Space Launches

DiZNoG writes "This CNN article discusses NASA experimenting with the idea of using Mag-Lev technology to launch payloads into space. Mentioned in the article is that the U.S. Navy is working on the technology for it's aircraft carriers to launch fighters. Unfortunately the NASA project is horribly underfunded ($30,000) for research. Cool technology, let's hope that the Navy research gets us a step closer to not burning all that Oxygen and Hydrogen to get to space...

Comments

Re:Perhaps a silly question?

[Jherico]

But why not have a rocket take off that drags a string behind it? And, say, take the string to the moon.

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that no material has the tensile strength to hold its own weight all the way to the moon. If you held a 5 foot string, it weighs practically nothing. If you dug a 100 mile hold and held a 100 mile string that was dangling down it it would rip your arm off. If you suspended it from something stronger than you, the string would just break under its own weight.

Plus you can't anchor a string to the earth and the moon. The earth rotates much faster than the moon orbits. If you attached it to just the earth it would only line up with the moon once a day, and it would be going so fast as it passed it you would be smashed into the moon. By the same token if you attached it to the moon, it would fly around the earth every 24 hours, meaning it would be blazingly fast, about 350 mph. Bad rope burn if you try to grab it.

However, it might be possible to build a 'string' that is strong enough to simply lead into orbit. Anchor one end to the earth, and the other to a large mass slightly outside geosync orbit, which is still way way closer than the moon. Then you can climb the string all the way to the mass and be flung away from the earth. At any rate we still don't have strong enough string. Yet.