Comment on Lmao
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks agoBuild a large enough magnetic rail launcher and you could save shit tons of fuel. Get a ship doing 2000 mph before it leaves the ground and needs its rockets and you’ll have a pretty good head start.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Could even take a scramjet to the upper layers of the atmosphere before kicking in the chemical propulsion
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
I mean, that’s kinda still just adding on weight and another “stage” to the rocket. A scram jet hauling a rocket ship will use tons of fuel.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
I thought scramjets were supposed to be really fuel-efficient? Just launch them with your gauss cannon idea so that they don’t need much fuel to get up to speed.
Maybe you’re right about the weight though. I’m not an engineer.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
They’re efficient for what they are but think of it more like a gas pickup truck getting 30 mpg would be considered very efficient. But that would be terrible for a compact car.
Also, scram jets only get efficient once they’re going fast enough.