Posted: Nov 28, 2015 2:28 am
There is so much of the fuel used in the first few miles, is anyone working on some kind or rail launch off a mountain? I've seen discussions on this, many many years ago, and it's been in some science fiction i read, also a long time ago. It's like the way some early tests were done on I think Musk's rocket, where they used a 747 to launch from. It seems like it should be something people would be working on. For supply runs, you could launch small vehicles at extremely high velocities, maybe even obviating the need for much of a propulsion system for LEO.