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Instead of hauling their own fuel for propellent, which adds to its
weight, why not have manned craft launched from massive high-altitude cannons? Why not further what the late-Gerald Bull envisioned (see world.std.com/~jlr/doom/bull.htm) to build a supergun that could launch projectiles large enough to be duplicated as manned capsules? That way there would be little or no need for external boosters to be hauled alongside the manned vehicle, greatly reducing the per pound flight costs. The gun could be large enough to shoot the craft into near-low earth orbit and then small internal rockets could be used to get the craft further into space. The craft could be sized such that it replicated the apollo. I imagine the dimensions would be at least 500 meters long, 30 meters in diameter, and require an explosive shot of several tons of tnt. Ciao. |
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