Finally someone is taking on this vital question. Jay Manifold of A Voyage to Arcturus has this to say on the subject:
The hint that space elevators and linear accelerators are economically complementary is correct. Space elevators can lift large, finished assemblies (with people in them if desired) at relatively long intervals (hours to days) and low accelerations; linear accelerators are best for inserting small amounts of raw materials into orbit at short intervals (seconds) and high accelerations.
This then raises an intriguing question: how long would a rail gun need to be in order to comfortably launch humans into orbit. Read the whole thing to find out. But if you don't follow along and do all the math, you're cheating!
Posted by Phil at October 21, 2003 01:58 PM | TrackBackFrankly, I don't care how it gets up there as long as it's cheap and reliable. Maybe you can't have both, but we ought to try first.
Posted by: Karl Hallowell at October 24, 2003 05:00 AMNow let's take those calculations, and go at the ultimate goal from another direction. If one builds a railgun to the longest practical length, and uses it to apply an appropriate acceleration to a rocket capable of boosting to orbital velocity, how would this modify the fuel/payload balance?
Posted by: triticale at October 26, 2003 01:41 PM