http://ohgizmo.disqus.com/enThu, 04 Jan 2007 12:23:39 -0000http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/01/03/launching-satellites-with-a-magnetic-slingshot/#comment-1760729At 180 pounds each, slinging some unwanted persons into outerspace is still out of reach for me. So how innovative is it really?MarkThu, 04 Jan 2007 12:23:39 -0000http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/01/03/launching-satellites-with-a-magnetic-slingshot/#comment-1760728The first linear accelerator was built in 1976. Search for "mass driver" in wikipedia.<br><br>JB: If small size is a factor, then why is the picture at a salt flat (in the desert)?<br><br>Jason: And Arthur C. Clarke just wrote about communications satellites in 1945. When they finally flew 15 years later, they weren't innovative. The first mass driver prototype was built 30 YEARS ago. This one may be successful, but hardly innovative.RonThu, 04 Jan 2007 07:46:26 -0000http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/01/03/launching-satellites-with-a-magnetic-slingshot/#comment-1760727Robert Heinlein just wrote about it, these guys are doing it. I'm not sure how much air pressure it would take to force 220lbs to 6 miles per second, but that seems a little too much like the old Air Jammer Road Rammer toys I got for Christmas about 25 years ago.JasonWed, 03 Jan 2007 23:35:16 -0000http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/01/03/launching-satellites-with-a-magnetic-slingshot/#comment-1760726Air pressure would be a better way to launch a satellite. It would be cheaper to build and easier as far as technology needed.Keith MillerWed, 03 Jan 2007 19:04:38 -0000http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/01/03/launching-satellites-with-a-magnetic-slingshot/#comment-1760725Heinlein's (and most other concepts that I've seen) was a linear accelerator, this launcher seems to use multiple trips around a ring to get up to speed and then sends the launch package to the ramp tangentially. This could result in a fairly significant reduction in the size of the launch site, which would have some significant advantages. More available site locations and a much smaller area requiring security come readily to mind.JBWed, 03 Jan 2007 13:38:17 -0000http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/01/03/launching-satellites-with-a-magnetic-slingshot/#comment-1760724How innovative can it be? Robert Heinlein described such an accelerator in his 1965 novel "The moon is a harsh mistress"RonWed, 03 Jan 2007 08:09:31 -0000