this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
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The electronics within an artillery shell can survive tens of thousands of gees just fine. The Sprint missile accelerates at a hundred g. A launch system will only need to be several kilometers long.
Neither artillery shells nor missiles tend to be packed full of fragile scientific instruments, solar panels, people, or liquids.
If your goal is only to launch solid cubesats, this might work, otherwise it's nonsense.
People will never be launched this way for sure. As for scientific equipment, that's a very nebulous term. Almost all solid state hardware can be launched this way. The efficiency of the launch system will allow for heavier, more robust payloads. Even a JWST can be modified for launch in this manner.