new york times.com travel
Theoretical Intergalactic Travel: Could a Railgun Fire a Space Faring Ship as a Projectile?
In theory, Scientists (and the New York Times)* have described the railgun as theoretically at least, being able to launch projectiles at speeds that approach the speed of light (300,000 km per sec.). My query is as follows: if the US military* in the near future can perfect the art of a railgun, producing one that can launch objects closing in on the speed of light, and construct a railgun large enough to use space faring ships as projectiles. If we base the gun in space. Without gravitational forces, and any form of friction, wouldn’t it be possible to launch a ship at these incomprehensible speeds allowing intergalactic travel and exploration?
* New York Times article about rail guns -
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924560,00.html
* Naval Warfare article by Scott C Truver -
http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/jni/jni030617_1_n.shtml
A railgun that could accelerate you to near-c speeds would have to be absolutely HUGE- the acceleration forces involved in a smaller one would be massive, and only weapons or unmanned ships could handle it. And the amount of energy these things use up is also absolutely huge.
What sounds a bit more plausible is that a railgun could be used to launch a ship to an appreciable, if not relativistic, speed. From there its own internal engines would take over and keep speeding it up. Right now, however, we have no engines that could do this.
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