Re: Can we now build the "space tower"?

On Dec 22, 2:03 pm, Alain Fournier <alain...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well you either need to accelerate something with some sort of internal
propulsion system, or you need to have a catcher in orbit. You don't
want to be at 40 km altitude on your second pass.

That's why one only gets to replace rocket engines halfway - one needs
a burn at apogee to go into a proper orbit.

And that's why something like 25 miles or 40 km up is needed; that's
the altitude at which the V2 rocket levelled off in its flight, since
it was now useful to accelerate horizontally. Perhaps air resistance
is still too high to really permit this type of launch to orbit, but
this seems at least a ballpark figure of the height needed. The length
might be 400 miles or 650 km, which indeed is Gargantuan.

John Savard
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Another thing that grated on me about When We Left Earth Sun. night
    ... Which one suspects, is because the X-15 could get that high, and 50 miles ... Try to orbit a satellite at fifty miles up and watch what happens. ... Let's say you're trying to determine the lowest possible altitude that you ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: ICBMs go higher than the shuttle?
    ... ICBM's fly higher than the space shuttle? ... The shuttle's orbit altitude is, what, 100 to 200 miles? ... The mission of the space shuttle is to just get out of the earth's ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: Slow Re-entry
    ... >>> get a ship down those last 200 miles than turning it into a meteorite? ... Consider that something in low orbit doesn't need to boost to geosync, ... orbit is at the same speed as the space elevator at that altitude. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: Japans Atomic Bomb, 7 PM EDT History International
    ... placed into a 10 mile high sub-orbit. ... If it could stay at ten miles, no more no less it would, be in orbit. ... A BB shell would reach ten miles altitude at the longer ranges. ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: How does the ISS maintain orbit across a range of altitudes?
    ... orbit to be maintained a satellite must maintain a fixed relationship ... between altitude and velocity, otherwise due to atmospheric drag it ... After examining the altitude ... orbit at which the burn occurred does not change. ...
    (sci.space.station)