Just because we can doesn't mean we should...

[Euphod]

http://io9.com/5892333/we-already-h...to-space-at-a-fraction-of-the-cost-of-rockets

 

[sawyer811]

Ditto there Ed; that has shades of H.G. Wells and that SeaView route for MSTS!

 

[CRO]

I think the page title says it all - "Mad Science".
Wonder if the proponents received any government grants to do their research?

Bob (CRO)

 

[amrail2000]

This is one time that I agree

 

[airtime]

How can a rocket be a train, what are these people smoking, because it just ain't right, rockets go into space, trains run along the ground on tracks, I cannot see the similarity, it's like eating strawberrys on toast, it's just not right.

Please mad scientists, think of something that people will use, for example, a car that doesn't need any type of fuel to run, now that is where the money is.

Joe Airtime

 

[paulzmay]

Interesting, though I think the price tag may come out at more than $60bn if built. If they can get it to work, the per launch cost would be MUCH lower than any current means of getting into space.

There's actually no fundamental reason why this couldn't work - I'd seen something similar proposed to lift minerals from the surface of the moon - doing it from the surface of the earth is harder, but not impossible...

Paul

 

[Euphod]

A thousand mile long vacuum tube? Who wants to bet some moron throws the wrong switch and all the Earth's atmosphere gets sucked into space?
No, really, it could happen!

 

[steamboateng]

You got it right Euphod. Most of us know that Area 52 is already launching daily scheduled trips into the interstellar beyond!
Note: Area 51 is a front for Area 52, which is just over the next mountain!

 

[paulzmay]

A thousand mile long vacuum tube? Who wants to bet some moron throws the wrong switch and all the Earth's atmosphere gets sucked into space?
No, really, it could happen!

No, really, it couldn't...

To be fair, the economics of this kind of thing would rely on a lot of usage. A system like this could probably launch the equivalent of the space shuttle every hour. I don't think we need it yet...

I'm actually surprised that it needs a horizontal track that long - that's really not very fast acceleration at all.

Paul