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Science & Technology
Slingshot into space: Startup CATAPULTS projectile into space from a supersonic centrifuge as an environmentally-friendly alternative to fuel-based rockets
2021-11-11
Posted by:Skidmark

#10  Other applications?

Caskets?
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-11-11 22:45  

#9  Imagine the Environmental Impact Statement for (quote) repeated earth-shattering kabooms (un-quote) as the cargo containers go supersonic on their way to orbit. You will be a very unpopular neighbor like Bull's Super Gun was back in the day.

On a practical note just imagine that the stresses as it unloads the payload on any armatures. Also the payload is going to be going in a particular launch angle because to be efficient this machine is going to be massive (think the turret on the IJN Yamato massive)... It all sounds better as a 'thought experiment'.
Posted by: magpie   2021-11-11 19:30  

#8  Other applications? Like fill with ball bearings and flip it into the path of a nosy foreign satellite?
Posted by: Mercutio   2021-11-11 16:15  

#7  What do they do with the counterweight?
Posted by: james   2021-11-11 14:22  

#6  We do need stuff up there. Launching fuel or food into LEO or better yet into one of the lagrange reasons would be helpful to any missions outside cislunar space.
Posted by: ruprecht   2021-11-11 11:39  

#5  But think of the CO2 it spews...
Posted by: CrazyFool   2021-11-11 10:51  

#4  Might be good for slinging things out of earth's gravity well.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2021-11-11 10:50  

#3  Now, it doesn't take any energy to spin this thing up. At all. It's kinda like Gerald Bull's orbital cannon.
Posted by: ed in texas   2021-11-11 09:38  

#2  For living creatures anyway.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2021-11-11 08:34  

#1  Bet your G-Forces would be a tad overwhelming....
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2021-11-11 08:30  

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