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Question
why does nasa not use electricity and the rail system to launch equipment from earth into space and beyond?
Because the Earth has an atmosphere. An electro-magnetic rail system would provide an interesting option for launches from the Moon, which has 1/6 the Earth's gravity and no atmosphere. But on Earth, atmospheric friction would dissipate much of the momentum imparted from a rail system as soon as the speed rose above a few hundred miles per hour, far far less than escape velocity. That is why rockets initially rise nearly vertically, to get above most of the atmosphere, before they tip over into more nearly horizontal flight to gain orbital speed. David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
September 19, 2007
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