China is building a railgun that can hurl crewed spacecraft into orbit ( newatlas.com )

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.

Tar_alcaran ,

If you want to reach LEO velocity and stay under 5g, you'd need a 860km long railgun...

This was posted in the correct community, because it's about as real as the hyperloop

NOT_RICK ,
@NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

And not get crushed by the G forces how exactly?

Bizarroland ,
@Bizarroland@kbin.social avatar

你们中有些人可能会死，但这是我愿意冒的风险

Bizarroland ,
@Bizarroland@kbin.social avatar

Just to save you guys a click, this is a Google translate of, "some of you may die but that is a risk I'm willing to take"

thr0w4w4y2 ,

humans can still function when insane G forces have turned them into jelly right?

atocci , (edited )
@atocci@kbin.social avatar

While railguns are known for rapidly accelerating projectiles to hypersonic speeds over the short length of a gun barrel, there's no limit on how slowly they can accelerate something or how long the "rail" part of the railgun can be. Accelerating "slowly" over a long distance is totally possible!

Repelle ,

Sure, but it’s gonna require one hell of a long rail…

MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown ,

Make it a circular rail with an off-ramp; like a particle accelerator. Still very ambitious.

sushibowl ,

That would put the g-forces back in play: the faster you go around the rail the stronger the centripetal force that keeps you going in a circle. If the rail is straight the force only depends on acceleration not speed.

smuuthbrane ,
@smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works avatar

I hereby dub any crew member sent to space in this manner a Cannonaut.

TropicalDingdong ,

yeet

lettruthout ,

Maybe even megayeet.

But I sure hope they can pull this off.

MushuChupacabra ,
@MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world avatar

That initial acceleration is gonna be a bit shitty.

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