[ExI] Linear motor for space launches/was Re: Inflatable tower could climb to the edge of space

[Dan]

--- On Wed, 6/17/09, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> I did some more calcs on this notion today, and
> rediscovered something I
> found about ten years ago when this topic came up.  If
> you are going to
> build a tower for the purpose of having it support a linear
> motor, then one
> will also drill a hole in the ground as far as it can
> possibly be drilled.
> The hole is cheaper than the tower everywhere.  This
> doesn't preclude a
> tower, but the hole will be deeper than the tower is high
> most likely.

Which brings us back to, I think, the notion of using existing structures for the linear motor -- e.g., local terrain.

Regards,

Dan