• @cynar
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    96 hours ago

    It would work fine in a vacuum, e.g. on the moon. Unfortunately, on earth we have a thick atmosphere to deal with. Orbits are about going sideways VERY fast. If you try and plough through the atmosphere at 7km/second it creates a LOT of heat, and uses a LOT of energy. You also can’t just lob a satellite up. It will need to circularise its orbit, so you need to log an engine and fuel too.

    Basically, it’s viable as a technological idea, but not on earth.