Rockets being passé, China is working on using an electromagnetic railgun to launch crewed spacecraft the size of a Boeing 737, weighing 50 tonnes, into orbit. This remarkably ambitious project is even more ambitious than it seems at first glance.

  • @NOT_RICK
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    118 months ago

    And not get crushed by the G forces how exactly?

    • @nBodyProblem
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      28 months ago

      The article states the company in question is only trying to achieve somewhere between Mach 1.6 and Mach 5. It will need a rail miles long, but more importantly the bulk of the velocity change needed to get to orbit will come from rockets.

      It takes 9-10 km/s of delta-V in a real world scenario to get to low earth orbit. That’s about Mach 27 or so, a long ways away from Mach 1.6 or even Mach 5.

    • @Ptsf
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      18 months ago

      Crew must be made up of Uyghurs