cheap orbital insertion

--- In spacesettlers@egroups.com, "Darren Brown" wrote:
> --- In spacesettlers@egroups.com, "Ed Minchau"
> wrote:
> > The winds at the tops of the Himalayas can exceed 200mph, I
know.
> > This would require control surfaces on the craft, to keep it
> centered
> > on the solenoids.
> >
> > The sonic shock wave would be more of a problem for the solenoids
> > than in terms of sound pollution. They would need a teardrop-
> shaped
> > cross section to allow the wave to pass by them.
>
> Greetings Ed,
>
> This is a great idea and if it was able to be done I'd say more
> power to you but I think there are a few little problems that may
> just slow down and maybe stop such a project.
>
> First, the wind is certainly going to give you a major headache but
> nothing like the one you will get from the constant rebuilding of
all
> your supports. The Himalayas were created when two tectonic plates
> collided. The impact buckled the plates and the mountains were
> raised or I should they are still being raised, the Himalayas are
not
> a static range of mountains, they are a growing, moving mass of
rock
> that is going up in places, down in others and in different
> directions all over the place and it's not just the rock that is
> moving, the ice moves even faster. The movement is not much mind
you
> but enough to cause you problems over the course of a few years for
> the rock and a few days/weeks for the ice.
>
> Next, 1500 Kms @ 3Gs will certainly get you to orbital speed, in
fact
> it should get you to +9 Km/sec but of course that's 1500 Kms at a
> CONSTANT 3Gs. What you were describing sounds like the coils are
> some distance apart and you would be getting a kick along gliding
> for a bit then getting another kick long. In that case you would
> need an average of 3Gs so depending on the size of the gap you
would
> need a kick that was +3Gs and the bigger the gap the size of the +.

1500 MILES ~ 2400 km. At 3g, that is almost 12km/s. Escape velocity
(not orbital velocity) is about 11.2 km/s; for orbital velocity you
could get by with a shorter accelerator or lower acceleration.

Acceleration does not occur only at the solenoids, it occurs between
them as well. Each solenoid provides both a pull as the craft
approaches, and a push as the craft passes through amd recedes. The
electromagnetic field along the accelerator is equivalent to a
continuous magnetic tube, with a moving set of poles; one behind the
craft pushing, and the other in front pulling. It is these poles
which are accelerating, they just bring the craft along for the ride .

>
> Finally, what I think may just be the biggest problem for is not
> really a technical one, take good look at a map and look at the
> length of the mountain range and mark out 1500 Kms, look at the
angle
> the range is inclined at (that is the direction it points), and
then