Could a particle accelerator launch a satellite?

Question

Ie. could a mag lev be made powerful enough to accelerate a satelite to escape velocity thus "throw" it into orbit without the use of thrusters.

Answer 1

Not entirely. You could theoretically get a satellite up to orbital speed with a linear accelerator, if you had a long enough run and used a high enough acceleration. But there are two large problems:

First, the muzzle velocity of such a gun would have to be substantially greater than orbital speed (18000 miles per hour), and any object moving that fast generates a lot of heat. In effect, you'd be going the same speed leaving the atmosphere as a de-orbiting satellite goes when coming back into the atmosphere. So you'd need a heat shield just to launch the thing.

Second, the orbit of such a satellite would have its perigee right back at the altitude of the muzzle of the accelerator. So you would still need to thrust the satellite once in orbit, to get the perigee up out of the atmosphere.

Answer 2

A long enough rail would not require too great an acceleration, however dealing with the Earth's atmosphere is a problem. Getting something up to greater than orbital velocity such that it will still have orbital velocity once it penetrates the atmosphere would take a a LOT of energy. You would also need a heckuva heat shield; remember that spacecraft heat shields only have to deal with interacting with rather thin upper atmospheric densities at orbital velocities. Also, you would need some sort of thrust to add angular momentum at your apogee (if you want to be maximally efficient about it) once you leave the atmosphere or else your free fall path will again intersect the atmosphere/Earth at some point

Such mass launchers are considered reasonable approaches to putting materials in orbit from places like the surface of the moon, and this model is popular amongst sci fi writers and ideationists; mine raw materials on the moon, and boost them into Earth orbit, perhaps with a linear accelerator to be used to build large structures such as solar panels that beam power to Earth, or large rotating cylindrical space colonies or massive long haul spacecraft.

Your concept is also similar to some classic Sci Fi story (Jules Verne?) where a journey to the moon took place that started in the muzzle of a giant cannon.

Answer 3

A powerful enough rail gun, using magnetic acceleration could do the job. The problem with using cannons to shoot things into space is that they have absurdly high acceleration. Humans would be turned into a gelatinous goo. Even electronics would probably be very adversely effected. Wasteful rockets are a far better way of getting delicate cargos into space until that day when a space elevator can be built.

Answer 4

In theory, yes. However, we aren't even close to that kind of technology.

But that sort of approach is being examined. One version would use large, ground-basedlasers to heat hydrogen inan ascending spacecraft (we should be albe to build lasers powerful enough, at least for a small payload.

Heating pure hydrogen can be much more efficient--and there woud be no engine weight.

To find out more--try searching for the term "mass driver"--that's the generic term for the sort of thing you're talking about.

Answer 5

No. One could certainly be built to accelerate objects of that mass to that velocity, but atmospheric friction would destroy the object before it ever attained orbit.

Answer 6

yes

a concept of it is already being made and tested
there is a circular tube that will keep accelerating an object until the proper amount of speed is required, then it is launced out of a tube verticularly into space

Answer 7

I will say no.

You are thinking of a cannon when an accelerator is usually a closed circuit.