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China plans to build a giant rail gun to launch hypersonic planes into space (www.scmp.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It needs less energy overall because you don't carry the fuel with you. The vast majority of the energy needed for a rocket launch is used to carry a bit more fuel a bit faster.

So in theory a railgun could send a payload in space for only a fraction of the cost.

The problem on earth is the atmosphere, travelling through the atmosphere at orbital speed will instantly vaporize any object due to friction. In the article they are talking about sending objects at mach 1.6 which is close to 2 000km/h. Orbital speed is around 29 000km/h so they would still be far from reaching orbit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

travelling through the atmosphere at orbital speed will instantly vaporize any object due to friction

You’re aware that re-entry is possible and is done at speeds around 28,000km/h right?