egads... (Score 1)

what's with this first post mania? it isn't like anyone really *cares*. First of all, the whole 'immortality on a message board' thing isn't true. I personally have my messages arranged highest scoring first, so that I get the most interesting threads, while safely stowing the -1 and 0 posts away at the bottom, in case I need a laugh. Second of all, posting something like 'hey! i've got first post!' is not gonna go over well with the moderators... First Moderator: Hmm, this post says 'Hey! I got first post!' Second Moderator: So do all the other posts... First Moderator: Hmm, -1 to all of them? So your little rating gets shot to hell. Okay, now...on to that article (oh yeah! the article!)... This approach seems exceedingly interesting, but I have a few questions: I assume this won't be used in manned flights? I'm not exactly sure, but isn't 6-G enough to make you black out? Mommy, I don't wanna be an astronaut anymore... Okay, they've got you on this track...now how do they get you from going horizontal (along a track) to vertical (into orbit)? Do they have a steep incline at the end (like a roller coaster? whee! look Houston, no hands!), or is the entire track on an incline? If so, what angle? 45 degrees would be best I suppose...does anyone else care to hazard a guess? Maybe the entire track is vertical, 90 degrees up. Seems like that would take more than 200 kilovolt amps, though. Where are they going to do this, anyway? Personally, I think Cape Canaveral is a really dumb place to launch rockets from. It's at sea level, n'est ce pas? So you have to go through the entire atmosphere...plus all that pesky gravity before you get into orbit. A better place would be in the rockies somewhere (you could turn that place in Florida into a trendy beach resort for government employees on Arbor-Boxing-Skeeball Day Vacation). Not only would the trip to orbit be shorter, but it would be thinner air up there...the only problem might be getting the shuttles up there again; you can't use a ship, you'd have to use trains or trucks (or just land there, which doesn't seem likely). Well, whatever happens, I want a ticket to the first launch =)