ISLAND ONE, a prime time family sitcom set on the High Frontier

> Define orbital speed though.

In the context of a mass-driver launch from the ground, I would
think "orbital speed" would mean the speed at the ground of an orbit
tangent to the ground and with apogee at the destination orbit.
Probably the destination orbit would be LEO, but with a mass driver
launching into a transfer orbit you might want to use higher final
orbits.

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "ANTIcarrot."
wrote:
>
> > From: Xenophile
> > What I'm wanting to know is what if I
> > don't want more than 3 G's, and am willing to settle for one
tenth of
> > orbital speed? How long does my acceleration tunnel need to be?
>
> Basic physics: v^2 - u^2 = 2*a*s
> v = final velocity
> u = initial speed
> a = acceleration
> s = distance
> Rouding up G to 10m/s^2
>
> Define orbital speed though. In LEO it's ~8kmps, but at GEO its
closer to
> 3kmps.
> One tenth of the former would require a tunnel 10.6km or 6.6 miles
long
> One tenth of the latter would require a tunnel 1.5km or roughly 1
mile long