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Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit
Zothecula writes "Getting into space is one of the harder tasks to be taken on by humanity. The present cost of inserting a kilogram of cargo by rocket into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is about US$10,000. A manned launch to LEO costs about $100,000 per kilogram of passenger. But who says we have to reach orbit by means of rocket propulsion alone? Instead, imagine sitting back in a comfortable magnetic levitation train and taking a train ride into orbit."
Every step towards "Galaxy Express 999" is a step in the right direction.
She sounds dreadfully boring. You'd probably hate her within a few months.
A robot like that would never settle for a slash dotter.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
All they need is a trillion $ and a bunch of technology that hasn't been invented yet. Easy Peasy.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If you bothered to read the article, you wouldn't look like such an idiot.
The energy requirements to get into orbit are practically the same no matter what method you use. Yes there is some savings from air resistance if you do it at a slower speed but it's not that much.
The only savings will be from a safety standpoint or similar. The energy costs will still be enormous.
Do I want to know what the induced magnetic field capable of levitating 4 tons at a distance of 20km is going to do to my hemoglobin, or to my laptop?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I was reading through it and initially thought it was just flinging the train from the ground up... but apparently it needs a TWELVE MILE HIGH RAMP!... that is not practical. If you used Mount Everest to get a head start it would help but it wouldn't get it near enough to that mark to matter. How the hell does anyone think building this would be possible?
the space elevator ideas are less crazy and they're kookoo for cocopuffs...
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I'm guessing accelerate it at 3gs for a period of 5 minutes.
If the craft is designed with any level of extraplanetary shielding in mind, it'll be able to reduce the EM bleedthrough to significantly below MRI levels, and 5 minutes in an MRI is generally not considered hazardous for a human. If they can't reasonably reduce the EM effect onboard low enough to be safe for electronics, you will probably have a secure faraday box to stow them in during launch.
To put $180 billion in perspective, that's about the same cost 400 shuttle launches.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Wow. That's pretty damn impressive -- that despite the fluid nature of blood the spins retained magnetic order over macroscopic distances *after* bouncing around through his arteries.
I think he was maybe referring to the people on the ground in the area of the launch tube. I would imagine that you would have to build this thing on the ocean or in the Sahara desert to keep it from playing havoc with nearby electronics.
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$20 Billion is approximately NASA's yearly budget. Much more apt comparison.
Oswald, you really should read a lot less science fiction and a lot more nonfiction. If you're going for "funny" you failed miserably.
That goes for the idiots that modded you "insightful" as well. A robot does not have emotions. A robot can not think. It's a mindless machine, and the only thing that makes it look like it's intelligent or sentient or having emotions is clever programming and anthropomorphism.
That sex bot wouldn't care if you were President Obama, a movie star, or a fat alcoholic who hadn't bathed in a month. It wouldn't care. It's incapable of caring.
Sheesh, doesn't anybody here understand how computers work?
Free Martian Whores!
F that. I'd settle for understanding how magnets work.
<deftly bringing the thread almost back on-topic.>
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
This is one of the big problems with our society as I see it, and a giant impediment to us actually making any real technological progress beyond building ourselves more handheld gadgets to entertain ourselves with, which aren't going to help us much with upcoming resource and energy shortages. We need to be building big superconducting structures, vacuum tubes, maglev tracks, etc. A space elevator or maglev train to orbit or undersea intercontinental vacuum tunnel or whatever is a monumental undertaking, yet the only experience we have with these technologies is very small-scale lab experiments, not any real-world production examples in the medium scale to refine our knowledge and techniques before we try building something really huge. And without any proven experience outside the lab, there's not going to be many investors willing to fund the megascale projects.