On 22/09/2010 1:55 AM, wrote:
"Is firing a rocket from the ground straight up
into space the right way to do things?

It sure was in the 1950s and ‘60s and it
persists today. But it’s still expensive, fraught
with technical risk and dwindling into
obsolescence.

There could be an alternative on the horizon,
however, that incorporates the concepts of
railguns, scram jets and kinetic launching
into an innovative, reusable space launch
system for unmanned cargo."

See:

http://defensetech.org/2010/09/21/ti...pace-launches/



Thing is, you need a structure strong enough to tolerate the aerodynamic
forces of whatever speed the launch rail gives at its end point, but
then you need to carry that structure to up to where the second stage is
released, or orbit if you're going for SSTO.

Sylvia.