NationStates Jolt Archive

Deep in a laboratory, a scientist flicks a switch. The magnetic loops activate. "Here we go..." He places a steel ball in the maglev catapult's launchpad, and sends 300,000 volts into the electromagnetic loops. The ball blurs and disappears. A small pop is heard at the same moment, immediately followed by a thump. The steel ball is imbedded in a wall.

A press release states:

"Researcher James Roosevelt has been working on a Gauss catapult for the past 10 years. He has succeeded in causing an object to pass the speed barrier using only an electrical charge. Further data as we recieve it. Here to discuss this finding in the context of space is National Space Group consultant Kevin McConnell."

"Thank you. Seeing as this scientist has passed the speed of sound, we at the NSG are going to put research into high-speed transport in the vacuum of space using a bigger-than ever maglev catapult. Of course, we know the catapult to be safe, as it is already used in public transportation."

"Thank you, Mr. McConnell. This is Megan McCauley, Okinawa Newsgroup anchor, signing off."

Bump!

Waughslind To Space Movement has purchased a plot of land on the dark side of the moon to place the catapult system. Funding has become a problem, however. WTSM is now requesting funding assistance. Blueprints will soon become available.

http://www.angelfire.com/ns2/waughslind/images/massdriver.PNG
The Mass Driver.

Ballistic
Unfueled
Mass
Propeller

Judging by the sort of things you plan to fire, you'll need a counterforce (opposite but equal propulsion of some sort) due to the massive force involved with this sort of propulsion.

The announcment caused no small stir in Iansisle's own Ministry of Space and among the leadership of the Royal Space Exploration Corps. However, given the trouble the R.S.E.C. was having with its traditional launching pad at Copplestone, the idea was soon regulated to the back burner and science fiction.

Ernie Bankfield put together a nice fruit basket for James Roosevelt and his team at once.

"Hey, grapes! Let's launch these!" Several scientists have a go at catapulting grapes all over the wall.

bump!

<tag for the wholesome goodness that is the mass driver!>

"Hey, grapes! Let's launch these!" Several scientists have a go at catapulting grapes all over the wall.

Classic. :wink:

Good to see another appreciator of this propeller!

Dr. Marcus Snow looked over the report. While it was always good to see another nation progress along, mass drivers were nothing new to Imitorans. He looked over the report, and looked over another sitting next to him, marked with 'Top Secret' tape across the top. "Would this have anythgin impact on our own research?" he asked a colleuge, and was satisfied with a shake of the head.

"Not to my knowledge."

The mass driver is expected to be used in many uses by 2008. Many parts of the Sandland will soon be covered in suncatchers and windmills. Waughslind looks forward to being entirely green by 2015.

The Carrolian High Minister would like to personally and formally congradulate the esteemed Doctor Roosevelt on his arduous research and substantial findings.
The Carrolian Minister of Science would like to inquire of the Waughslind government officials, as to how much it might cost to share said research and findings.

"We are considering your offer to buy use of this technology. Please, my friends, make an offer."

bump!

The Dominion of Kanuckistan would like to congradulate Waughslind and offer best wishes in this endevor. Our nation has a great deal of experiance with large scale mass launchers, with the Earthside launchers Sword of Inevitible Justice and Big Honkn' Space Gun MKI still in operation after three hundred years(the former being a 12 kilometer long launcher rated for passanger launch, while the later is a 3 kilometer long gun used for launching unmanned payloads, dew to high gee forces).

Modern technological developments have excluded the expansion of launch capasity of this kind, but the instalations remain a competitive, cost-effective launch vector.

Tho we are courious as to why you are putting it on the dark side of the moon.

Short answer: We want to chuck rocks at Mars.

Long answer: We'll eventually build it bigger and go for interstellar travel.

bump!

Well, if yer earthbound, it would make more sense to build there, as it would make construction easier, especially if things don't go exactly as planned, and would provide a cheap, effective means for launching payloads to orbit. A second launcher on the moon could then be constructed using then-proven techniques and designs(of course, this is all moot if you're not located on earth; with all the nations around, and with the relocation of several departments, we haven't ben able to locate the file on your country yet :? ).

As for interstellar travel, well, you might want to invest in developing one of the proven types of FTL already in use by other nations; even a cee-fractional ship would take decades to reach the nearest star to Sol.

Nonononono. Chucking rocks... at Mars. That's our big thing right now. Then later, whole cryogenically-frozen payloads of people. But we're working on that in stages.

But why do you want to chuck rocks at Mars? There are alot of folks with really big guns living there.

But why do you want to chuck rocks at Mars? There are alot of folks with really big guns living there.

Really big is an understatement...

Then we'll avoid Mars entirely! We'll whack... um... Jupiter. Right in the eye! Hahahahaaha...

Carrolia would be more than willing, even glad, to offer the good nation of Waughslind a sum of at least six trillion Carrolian Toves (estimated to be worth roughly a million pounds) for access to aforementioned information. This is negotiable.