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[deleted] t1_j5svfs0 wrote

Know first how many failed rocket launch test we humans are doing before sending a successful one. And know what will happen if a nuclear rocket explodes via accident

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quartertopi t1_j5sxncw wrote

Or gets targeted by an attack. Dirty bomb for free

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KillyScreams t1_j5sz9ab wrote

I still cannot believe the best method to go really fast is a bomb.

There has to be another way.

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Cheapskate-DM t1_j5t09xj wrote

Realistically, if you wanted to go pure electro-mechanical, you could build a giant ramp up the side of the Rockies and chuck a plane off it.

Unfortunately, high-velocity speed bumps have the same effect regardless of whether or not rockets are involved... nobody would want to shotgun radioactive waste across the country.

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KillyScreams t1_j5t0dpy wrote

Like a rail system, right? Not on a mountain but straight up

Why oh why don't people make investments like that? Space travel isnt going anywhere.

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Cheapskate-DM t1_j5t0sfw wrote

Laments about stupid human bullshit aside, it's no easy engineering feat.

An aboveground version would mean miles of electrified track exposed to the elements; assuming constant acceleration, you'd quickly reach speeds where a single nick or bump would be catastrophic.

A hyperloop or shielded underground version is plausible, but that's miles of tunneling - and unless you want to roll the dice on some retractable wing business, it'd need to be a wide tunnel.

And that's not even getting into property/territory.

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KillyScreams t1_j5t19rm wrote

I gotcha. It's just it's not like humanity has never had incredible engineering feats when needed.

It will be interesting to see what does eventually replace rockets.

Maybe having planes carry things into low altitude orbit and take off from there.

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DistressedApple t1_j5talsj wrote

Why don’t people make investments into vertical rail? Because it’s stupid and it wouldn’t work. How would it be supported? How would it be powered efficiently, and how would many of these affect normal air travel? There are so many reasons why they’re a terrible idea and people much smarter than either of us have considered and rejected it

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Hadrollo t1_j5t3ghr wrote

Not really any better ways given our current understanding of the universe, and chances are that any new way is also going to be a bomb.

Bombs and rockets work on the same principle; there's a lot of mechanical force created very quickly. In a bomb, it's either exploding all around, or there's something guiding it to where the bad people are. In a rocket, the 'splody bits point out the back to throw the rocket forward.

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