Space Elevator Between Planets

If it takes 1 second to accelerate to one million MPH, then the passengers would be "liquidated." lol

This is true, the Earth is moving at something like 69,000 mph right? And the sun is moving around the galaxy core at some higher speed.

We need only implement supposed inertial dampening technology....

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

That would be why they AREN'T planning on 1 sec of acceleration wouldn't it?
Passenger-carrying mass drivers are being talked about with lengths in the tens of kilometres, and much-reduced acceleration.
Please learn something before spouting rubbish.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Tens of km would never work. You will need to launch at about 10 km/sec to reach orbit. If you accelerate at 10Gs, which is pretty much the extreme limit of what a trained pilot with a G suit can handle, you would need a launch track 500 km .

You might be able to launch unmanned cargo into space with a track that was a few tens of km long (assuming you have some very study cargo), but it's probably not feasible for launching people.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Tens of kms wouldn't work for a final speed of 1,000,000 mph - but nobody is actually planning on that speed: it isn't required.
I ignored that 1 million mph figure, because it was specious.

 

I was referring to a rail gun passenger launch capsule....

Probably more sci-fi than else.

 

A mass-driver is a rail gun in general principle: they are both a form of linear accelerator.
Or vice-versa - a magnetic launch device.
But as with ANY device they are/ would be tailored to the required application.

 

Did you actually read my post? Tens of km also wouldn't work for a final speed of 10,000 m/sec, which is the minimum speed for reaching orbit. You will need a track many thousands of km long for humans to have any hope of surviving the acceleration.

 

Er, most proposals for passenger-carrying mass divers I've seen were for moon-based applications.
~60 km at around 5g.

 

That could work on the moon, where the gravity is so much lower. Also I made a mistake in my previous calculations, at 10G you would "only" need a track 500 km long to launch from earth. At 5G it would need to be 1000 km long. Not quite as bad as my first numbers, but still ridiculously long.

 

Somebody'll propose it.
If they think they can make a profit

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Actually, now you mention it... I have a vague memory that it was studied, at least semi-seriously.
I'll ransack my brain and see if I can remember where/ when and by who.

 

There have been many serious proposals for using this sort of things for launching cargo, I've never heard of it for people though. You can make the track smaller by making it circular so that its less of a chore to build (although for people this just means that you get crushed by angular acceleration rather than linear acceleration.)

 

Just keeps 'em near the hosing-down station

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

What ? Draqon.. !

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!