Reaching escape velocity with a train

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12709275
by jlebrech • 10 years ago
1 3 10 years ago

imagine a train that pulls along a kite like spacecraft and only let's go of it when it's reached escape velocity.

I would build such a track on the antarctic going against the earths rotation.

It could be powered by mirrors and would only need to accelerate very slowly and let go of the the kite once it reached 11km/s.

the advantage of such a design is that it would take about 24 hours to reach escape velocity and could be facing the sun at all times.

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