[tim politicus]

I was thinking the exact same thing.

A linear accelerator of any sort would seem to me to be essential. A "gun" of some type would, in fact, work, if the propellant reaction could be tightly controlled, that is, slowed down enough.

I'm thinking of a reaction more like one gets when shaking a bottle of soda pop or a child's mixing of vinegar and sodium bicarbonate. If contained in a long enough vessel, or "gun", the chemical reaction could, I think, accelerate gradually enough.

I'd imagine a complex computer control of the entire chemical event-- alternatively dampening or boosting the strength of the reaction based upon realtime measurment ***and computer modeling*** of the reaction [and where it is heading]. The problem is designing an entirely new technology. Or has this been done already? boris, would know.

[freefly]

Good reading in this thread.
We have some SHARP people on FR!

[RightWhale]

A linear accelerator of any sort would seem to me to be essential. A "gun" of some type would, in fact, work,

Rail guns have won the race for preferred launcher from the moon. Once an appropriate critical mass of our act has been placed in space the rate of space development should accelerate so rapidly that mid-level government space planners would want to throw their white papers into the back of the third drawer down of the file cabinet and finish the career mastering Civilization III.