I was wondering if it is possible to use some type of craft to fire into orbit and then angle down to a place like Europe? I know the shuttle can reach orbit in like 8 minutes and up there it doesn't take much to travel at a high rate of speed. Of course, it would be expensive but couldn't we have some type of craft that just did this and then we could travel all over the world really fast???
2007-07-19 05:58:12 · 10 answers · asked by Layne100 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Not quite--but such craft will soon be available if all goes well (by the end of the next decade.
That's the long range goal (besides eventually developing cost-effective orbital spacecraft) of research projects like Bert Rutan's "Spaceship One" or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company.
These sub-orbital ships won't actually go into orbit, though. They would accelerate to a speed fast enough to coast the rest of the way to their destination--which saves a LOT of fuel. But they'll be able to travel from LA to London in an hour or so--maybe two when youinclude the time needed for take-off and landing manoeveurs.
Check out space.com for news stories on the developing commercial spaceflight industry.
2007-07-19 06:38:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, the shuttle can achieve orbit relatively quickly (although 8 minutes seems a bit low, I'd have to do more research). The problem is that, unless you're willing to plummet back to earth like a stone (which would make for a rather messy landing), making a controlled re-entry takes significantly longer, so you'd never be able to make it into orbit and then return (in a controlled fashion) in Europe 30 minutes later.
2007-07-19 06:03:35 · answer #2 · answered by dansinger61 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As long as we're burning stuff to make rockets go up, you're looking at several thousand dollars per pound of payload, even for suborbital flight. Airplanes will continue to be dramatically more efficient for the frseeable future, barring some breakthrough in energy.
2007-07-19 06:07:08 · answer #3 · answered by Kyle M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes it is possible, and is actually in the works rigth now. Developers are working on aircraft that can travel at hypersonic speeds (>mach 5), using scramjet engines. It would basically skip across the upper atmosphere until it descended into it's destination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet
2007-07-19 06:31:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I like to think that some kind of suborbital flights like that will be common in the future. The canceled National Aerospace Plane was supposed to be something like that. But we do not have the technology to do something like that cheaply enough to use it like we use airliners now. Not yet anyway.
2007-07-19 06:32:37 · answer #5 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They ***** approximately it right here in my u . s . a ., the place the fee is over $11 a gallon. everyone seems to be complaining because of the fact it is an traditionally severe fee. Petrol/gas now expenses greater desirable than milk, at some stations.
2016-11-09 21:50:27 · answer #6 · answered by gracely 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the future scientist might be able to access the blackhole or worm-ring(if I got it rite) to help us travel faster.
2007-07-19 06:13:05 · answer #7 · answered by Athrun 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's going to happen someday. Probably within 100 years.
2007-07-19 06:02:13 · answer #8 · answered by billgoats79 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imposable they are to far away
2007-07-19 06:07:04 · answer #9 · answered by Sarah smith 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
teleport....i do it all the time
2007-07-19 06:05:17 · answer #10 · answered by myusernameisbetterthanyours 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋