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.

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.

  • thr0w4w4y2
    7·
    1 year ago

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

    • atocci@kbin.social
      4·
      1 year ago

      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!

          • sushibowl@feddit.nl
            1·
            1 year ago

            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.

      • Corkyskog
        1·
        1 year ago

        It just seems like an engineering improbability to me with the tolerances required. 5+ miles, I guess you could bury part of it to reduce things like wind, but still.

  • SmuuthbraneEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

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

  • Tar_Alcaran
    3·
    1 year ago

    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

    • Bizarroland@kbin.social
      5·
      1 year ago

      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”