No, you read the subject correctly. America is building a giant, 2 mile long gun. That fires spaceships.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-11/nasa-engineers-propose-combining-rail-gun-and-scramjet-fire-spacecraft-orbit
Idiots, we all know that an inverse trebuchet would work better. :fnord:
They are already planning to do it with aircraft on carriers.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/23/0014259/Navy-Uses-Railgun-To-Launch-Fighter-Jet?from=rss (http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/23/0014259/Navy-Uses-Railgun-To-Launch-Fighter-Jet?from=rss)
Now we just need one of these on a bomber... and a rail gun to launch the bomber, so we could shoot a big plane that then shoots smaller jets.
Quote from: Ratatosk on December 26, 2010, 03:46:44 AM
Now we just need one of these on a bomber... and a rail gun to launch the bomber, so we could shoot a big plane that then shoots smaller jets.
Sounds like a job for the Michael Bay school of engineering.