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NASA Looks At Railgun-Like Rocket Launcher

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the spent-all-day-playing-ctf dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA is looking hard at a way to blast spacecraft horizontally down an electrified track or gas-powered sled and into space, hitting speeds of about Mach 10. The craft would then return and land on a runway by the launch site."

6 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Maybe someone should tell them... by Spectre · · Score: 2, Funny

    Space is not up, it's all over, we're on a sphere.
    You can go to your right and ignore gravity completely to reach space.

    Damn it, we've been doing this rocketry thing the hard way.
    The easy way is just to "ignore gravity"!

    (Yes, I know what you mean, but it is more fun this way :)

    --
    "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
  2. One faster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well you could you know, make it one faster, you know go up to Mach eleven. Well, it's one faster, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, the Russians, you know, will be launching at Mach ten. You're on Mach ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on Mach ten on your magnetic sled. Where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Mach Eleven. Exactly. One faster.

  3. Re:Put the railgun in orbit by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... in which case Newton's Laws would adequately describe the reasons why your ultra-expensive orbital mass driver is now an ultra-expensive meteor shower.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  4. Re:Maybe someone should tell them... by spazdor · · Score: 2, Funny

    NASA should hire people with surprising bodies and/or opinions to jump out and reveal/explain them, providing a needed distraction at the critical moment.

    --
    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  5. Re:Well, this is not a by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah but going mach 10 at ground level isn't exactly rainbows and ponies either...

    True, but you do have the potential to turn ponies into rainbows...

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  6. Re:Well, this is not a by robot256 · · Score: 2, Funny

    That would be a rather unfortunate pony, and a rather monochromatic rainbow. Do these things come with windshield wipers?