Aside from microsatellites, the launch ring would be ideal for delivering supplies to support human spaceflight, such as food and water, which are not sensitive to such high accelerations, Fiske says. "Nearly all of this materiel could be shipped via launch rings, resulting in major reductions in the cost of manned space activities," he told New Scientist.
(Via KurzweilAI.net.)
Friday, October 06, 2006
Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit
3 comments:
Why does this idea somehow remind me of Iapetus?
I knew you'd say that! :-)
Interestingly, though (I just figured this out) even an EM accelerator ring all the way around Iapetus' equator would result in a centrifugal force (what you'd feel inside the vehicle) of roughly 37 g's just to attain a relatively modest exit velocity of 10 mps. (Probably OK for automated intrasystem cargo.)