Mass Driver Question

> For capacitors to be used, my understanding is that the power
system
> would feed the capacitors until they stored enough energy for the
> mass driver launch. This would prevent a rapid turnover in launches.
>
> Making a trade-off by having a larger power system supplying the
> current required for the mass driver launch would insure that a
> launch could be taking place in a continuous cycle. This would
> eliminate the need for capacitors.
>
> Is this correct? OR am I overlooking something?
>
> Just to clarify: if a launch lasting one second required 20MW, then
> a power system supplying 20MW would be able to launch a payload
> every second. A system with capacitors that output 1MW would have
to
> charge for 20 seconds before every launch.
>
> Just wanted to make sure I understood this properly.

Has anyone here heard heard of/seen/played the Xbox game Halo (stick
with me, I'll show you how this is relevant)? Of those people,
anyone who has read the games's prequel book, "The Fall of Reach" is
familiar with the MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) guns. I don't
know the mechaniscs of a real-life mass driver, but I gather that
they operate on the same principle as the fictional MAC guns--
basically a big line of electromagnets that hurl a metallic object in
whatever direction the thing is pointed. IF this is the case, then
anyone who has read "The Fall of Reach" should remember the Pillar of
Autumn's special MAC gun. I don't remember how it was accomplished,
but somehow it recaptured most of the energy from launching the over
1,000-ton round. Thanks to this system, it could launch three
consecutive shots within one second. Nifty, huh?

Posted by...well, call me Gene.