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Could StarTram Revolutionize Space Travel?
Real Clear Science ^
| October 3, 2017
| Ross Pomeroy
Posted on 10/03/2017 10:07:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Wish we’d built mag lev trains here.
2
posted on
10/03/2017 10:19:06 PM PDT
by
ifinnegan
(Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Yep, it's a cool idea. Which is why Heinlein used it almost 65 years ago.
To: 2ndDivisionVet
SpaceX's BFR will be much more economical than current rockets, so much so that any other radical idea would not be able to get funding. this was already the fate of one promising project that I know of.
BFR
To: 2ndDivisionVet
First off, to propel spacecraft to necessary speeds, a massive amount of power will need to be stored and discharged over roughly thirty seconds, think between 50 and 100 gigawatts! That's equivalent to the power output of around 50,000 commercial wind turbines. Or 50 to 100 full size nuclear power plants.
That is a lot of power.
And I cant imagine the size of the capacitor banks that it would need to store that power for quick release at around 200 million amperes!
I cant imagine the noise that it would make when those capacitors were discharged
5
posted on
10/03/2017 10:35:02 PM PDT
by
Pontiac
(The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.L)
To: Pontiac
Imagine if someone hooked it up to a door knob!
6
posted on
10/03/2017 10:39:01 PM PDT
by
Axenolith
(Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
To: Axenolith
Instant plasma.
Which is why they need superconducting cables.
Copper or aluminum cable would instantly vaporize.
7
posted on
10/03/2017 10:43:01 PM PDT
by
Pontiac
(The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.L)
To: Vince Ferrer
Have you seen the IAC presentation Musk gave? Incredible.
The actual BFR is going to be scaled down, but still more powerful than the Saturn V, and 100% reusable. They are also looking to use it for suborbital commercial passenger flights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxjGKm5-1eM&feature=youtu.be
8
posted on
10/03/2017 10:45:12 PM PDT
by
Moonman62
(Make America Great Again!)
To: Flatus I. Maximus
9
posted on
10/03/2017 11:00:37 PM PDT
by
The SISU kid
(I think they taste like Barbie dolls smell.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
an 81 MILE vacuum tube filled with track, magnets and superconducting electrical cables, powered by dozens of nuclear plants (!)
but wait! it's built on the side of a mountain!
10
posted on
10/03/2017 11:35:40 PM PDT
by
867V309
(Lock Her Up)
To: Flatus I. Maximus
Wasn’t this also the basis for the launchers (”catapults”) that the Moon colony used to threaten Earth, to gain their Independence, in Heinlein’s Libertarian classic “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”?
TANSTAAFL!
11
posted on
10/03/2017 11:52:13 PM PDT
by
BeauBo
To: 867V309
To: Pontiac
Imagine the noise and flash from 200 million amps if there was a short circuit!
To: minnesota_bound
Scale model tests are already being done.
The gov't is not telling us everything.....
To: minnesota_bound
Imagine the noise and flash from 200 million amps if there was a short circuit! I can imagine it would be something like a MOAB detonation.
But that does bring up some interesting tech questions that I had not considered.
Operating this Mass Driver is going to require some new technology in switches and breakers.
I would think that the work that the Navy and their research contractors have done with their railguns would be applicable but even those would be puny in comparison.
I think that the switches for launching something this big might be disposable. Such as close the switch once and throw it away because it destroys itself in the process.
15
posted on
10/04/2017 1:41:39 AM PDT
by
Pontiac
(The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.L)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
16
posted on
10/04/2017 4:47:47 AM PDT
by
sauropod
(I am His and He is Mine)
To: Axenolith
“Imagine if someone hooked it up to a door knob!”
They would move pretty fast!!!
17
posted on
10/04/2017 4:58:17 AM PDT
by
HereInTheHeartland
(I don't want better government; I want much less of it.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
18
posted on
10/04/2017 6:28:31 AM PDT
by
E. Pluribus Unum
(<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=800>)
To: Pontiac
100 gigawatts!!!
19
posted on
10/04/2017 6:32:15 AM PDT
by
BlueLancer
(ANTIFA - The new and improved SturmAbteilung)
To: minnesota_bound
One of my all-time favorite sci-fi books.
20
posted on
10/04/2017 6:33:47 AM PDT
by
BlueLancer
(ANTIFA - The new and improved SturmAbteilung)
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