Timeline for Why don't we use catapults to get to space?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
30 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 14 at 4:12 | comment | added | Eaten by a Grue | thebrighterside.news/space/… | |
| Oct 21 at 15:58 | history | unprotected | Starship | ||
| May 11, 2018 at 14:32 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| May 11, 2018 at 16:42 | |||||
| Dec 21, 2017 at 5:07 | comment | added | Loren Pechtel | Another factor: Given any reasonable boost from the catapult you actually need more rocket to make it to space. The problem is your rocket needs to be able to survive being horizontal--it has to be beefed up to do so and you're taking that extra mass up with you. | |
| Dec 20, 2017 at 21:49 | answer | added | Uwe | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 30, 2016 at 23:45 | answer | added | Anthony X | timeline score: 2 | |
| May 26, 2016 at 8:39 | comment | added | user | Related: Supergun Launching of Satellites on Physics | |
| Aug 16, 2015 at 5:20 | history | edited | TildalWave | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 7, 2015 at 10:50 | comment | added | JayKandari | I too had a similar idea Once. But soon after some serious thinking, I dropped it. Thanks to you, bro for asking here & making me stand firm in my decision that, (catapault, not a good Idea for Launching Rockets). | |
| Jun 5, 2015 at 9:38 | history | protected | Deer Hunter | ||
| May 31, 2015 at 2:13 | answer | added | Loren Pechtel | timeline score: 4 | |
| May 30, 2015 at 11:39 | history | edited | Philipp |
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| May 29, 2015 at 14:03 | answer | added | bsa | timeline score: 0 | |
| Oct 7, 2014 at 14:22 | comment | added | Aron | Actually many many proposed designs exist for such a concept, and they are largely grouped under the concept of a Mass Driver | |
| Oct 1, 2014 at 0:05 | comment | added | HDE 226868 | Evidently, not a stupid idea. I (and many others) like it. | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 13:30 | comment | added | Pavel Janicek | OP's comment on this: I have rough idea why the rockets are build. And I KNOW that if catapult would be any better than current approach, we would use it. But I totally got so deep into that idea that I thought the best way will be to ask it out loud, even when it will sound dumb. | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 13:26 | comment | added | mechalynx | @Everyone I wasn't talking about your comment, I upvoted it! I referenced it because you mentioned that the question is helpful for those who aren't familiar with why this won't work. I was referring to the top answers and certain comments as being sardonic towards what I consider to be a legitimate question, for someone with little technical knowledge of why spacecraft are built the way they are. My concern is that when people are discouraged to express questions and thoughts like this one, it leads to blindly trusting sources from fear of getting ridiculed for legitimate thoughts. | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 12:43 | comment | added | pjc50 | This plan has been considered and seems to be feasible on the moon: with no air resistance and much lower gravity, a large railgun constructed on the equator could easily be used to send craft towards Earth. | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 10:30 | answer | added | user6190 | timeline score: 10 | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 9:59 | answer | added | Nzall | timeline score: 6 | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 7:05 | comment | added | Pavel Janicek | It has been calculated with the explosives. See answer here: what-if.xkcd.com/24 | |
| Sep 30, 2014 at 2:47 | comment | added | mechalynx | While I agree with the answers, I find the sardonicism unfair. It may seem stupid, but if people with more expertise considered it seriously in the past, why not someone else? The space catapult idea, and the space elevator amongst others, have been examined enough amongst experts to be considered clearly non-viable, but are common ideas amongst amateurs. It's like someone is being made fun of for not understanding why packing a tube with explosives is the optimal way to go to space, when they're only familiar with gunpowder. See @Everyone's comment above as well. | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 20:24 | answer | added | AlanSE | timeline score: 7 | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 16:23 | comment | added | Everyone | Non-trivial question even if the accepted answer punches holes in it. p.s. The answer fills in considerations a newb such as I take for granted such as the one about delayed acceleration in the upper atmosphere | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 16:23 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackSpaceExp/status/516624196613312512 | ||
| Sep 29, 2014 at 10:42 | comment | added | James Jenkins | Related questions Can gunpowder get you to the moon? & Can magnets be used to launch spacecraft? | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 10:40 | vote | accept | Pavel Janicek | ||
| Sep 29, 2014 at 8:14 | answer | added | user | timeline score: 23 | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 8:08 | answer | added | paul | timeline score: 11 | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 7:33 | history | asked | Pavel Janicek | CC BY-SA 3.0 |