Pretty straight forward question really. What are rail guns, how do they work and how likely is it that they will replace stage one rockets in the future? Why have they not done so already? Is it feasible? Or would the astronauts just get pasted due to the extreme acceleration?
In: Technology
Rail guns are a type of electric gun design. By applying a voltage between two rails and short circuiting them with a projectile while continuously supplying them with massive currents will create a force that pushes the projectile forward. The problems we have is related to supplying it with enough current without melting and damaging components. This does include the projectile which have a tendency to melt, boil and then turn into a ball of plasma before it can leave the rails. But even if you can solve these issues in the gun and were able to shoot a projecile at orbital speeds it would compresse the air in front of it heating it up so it would melt, boil and then turn into a ball of plasma. And satellites do tend to work slightly better if you manage to keep them from turning into plasma. Similarly astronauts do tend to feel better about the launch knowing that their bodies will be able to retain the same state of matter after the launch as before.
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