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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.
A robot like that would never settle for a slash dotter.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
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'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.
Yeah, that's true, except in as much that it's not. This system would save you all the fuel it takes to launch all your fuel. The air resistance is anything but negligible at 7 times the speed of sound. That's disregarding the propulsion inefficiency of rocket fuel compared to magnetic force. Not to mention the risk/preparation costs for a launch. All estimates I've seen of the differences are measured in orders of magnitude. While a space elevator is generally considered impossible at this time, it really would be worth the cost.
$20 Billion is approximately NASA's yearly budget. Much more apt comparison.
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.