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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."

1 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. The Plan is Not Mach 10 on the Track! by Somegeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everyone is banging their head over trying to hit Mach 10 on the track.

    TFS and everyone else is misunderstanding the proposal.

    The current idea is for the sled on the track to accelerate a scramjet up to about 600mph, then the scramjet lifts off, flies up to altitude and at about mach 10, releases a rocket which boosts the payload into orbit.

    Sled (reusable) on the ground = 1st Stage
    Scramjet (reusable) in the atmosphere = 2nd Stage
    Booster Rocket in space = 3rd Stage

    All extensions of more or less current technology.

    --
    And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..