TwiceDead Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Question for the Warframe community. Can you use a giant slingshot to launch a rocket partway towards the atmosphere? The idea being that engines will kick in to aid with the remaining distance through the atmosphere. Benefits being fuel conservation primarily. I am no rocket-scientist, but I still wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felnia Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 (edited) honestly i did not think of this....... F****** GENIUS gravity might pull it to the center of the force of gravity,but if your on a moon or asteroid or anything with low or no gravity it might work Edited December 30, 2014 by VyralVanKill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt_Atroxium Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 If it were possible, the positional point of the rocket would need something spheriocal digestive deturment of a direction. So you know, it doesnt just use it's full on thrusters back to earth. That'd be devistating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fulgar_Strike Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Rockets are already reverse-pendullums so, put them on a very unstable surface would make it very difficult to not only keep upright, but to launch with at least decent accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CriticalFumble Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Replace "slingshot" with "giant Gauss cannon" and you gave a fairly well known idea about putting things into orbit. Problem being that fragile objects - like the human body - don't fair too well when rapidly accelerated like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaru Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 In theory yes, but we're talking an ungodly level of propulsion from the slingshot here. The thing is that we really don't have access to materials that are elastic enough to launch a several ton (2030 ton in the case of a space shuttle) payload to a high were it would be more economical to use a slingshot launch. Also there would be no real way to ensure that the craft in question stays in the proper orientation for launch. If you're talking about a gravitational slingshot, then the answer is no. There is simply not enough usable mass on earth to do this and not kill everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiceDead Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Replace "slingshot" with "giant Gauss cannon" and you gave a fairly well known idea about putting things into orbit. Problem being that fragile objects - like the human body - don't fair too well when rapidly accelerated like that. Well I don't see humans being slingshot into space anytime. I was thinking more about materials n'stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entari0 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 (edited) if the slingshot was powerful enough and at the proper angle, you wouldnt even need engines to get into orbit. also, little bit of rocketry trivia for you guys, slingshotting around a planet or other body in the solar system (moon, star, asteroid, etc) is often used to give a space craft a bit of extra push without using as much fuel. edit as said before by imaru12, it would have to be absurdly powerful, and a really high elevation would not hurt. bear in mind that orbital velocity is (i think) about 8km/second in low earth orbit, and gradually decreases as you ascend. low earth orbit, mind you, is between 200 and 2000 KM above earth's surface, so there is that. Edited December 30, 2014 by Entari0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaru Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 if the slingshot was powerful enough and at the proper angle, you wouldnt even need engines to get into orbit. also, little bit of rocketry trivia for you guys, slingshotting around a planet or other body in the solar system (moon, star, asteroid, etc) is often used to give a space craft a bit of extra push without using as much fuel. That is the Gravitational Slingshot I mentioned, and would be impossible to use as a launch system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.ToastForPresident Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 IF you just imagine this for a bit. The slingshot would be terribly inaccurate, and the sling would rebound back to the earth creating a massive gash in the earth and a large earthquake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteCopain Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Without any actual thrust being provided by the rocket itself, it would just flip and spin do to the air resistance. You'd have to shoot it at just the right angle with 0 room for error with every possible wind shift taken into account (Essentially, impossible). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Czern Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 The point is, that to escape to orbit you have to reach certain velocity. You can't make a very long slingshot because the way the rocket has to traverse through the atmosphere would become longer (due to smaller angle), so it would require even greater velocity or some sort of acceleration mid-way (and that would make the first phase redundant). I don't think that creating a slingshot strong enough to launch so heavy objects with so high velocities using currently known materials while maintaining relatively small size of the slingshot is possible. But sure, you can launch it part-way through the atmosphere. Several hundreds meters at best I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Czern Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Without any actual thrust being provided by the rocket itself, it would just flip and spin do to the air resistance. You'd have to shoot it at just the right angle with 0 room for error with every possible wind shift taken into account (Essentially, impossible). Or put the rocket into a long scaffold, a barrel of sorts, so it flies where you want it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entari0 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 That is the Gravitational Slingshot I mentioned, and would be impossible to use as a launch system. yes, but i never suggested using it to get off the planet. a gravitational slingshot actually requires motion to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenzinNinJa Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I don't know about slingshooting rockets into space. It seems like the right way for things to go horribly wrong.But if you like ideas and thoughts like that, you should totally check this out, if you haven't already: http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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