[ExI] question re "honkin' big cannon" space launch

[Keith Henson]

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On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 2:53 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

snip

> Keith has some really interesting notions of using orbiting lasers with
> ablative propellant to round out the orbits of projectiles.

It's mostly Jordin Kare's work.   And while orbital lasers are in the
cards eventually, Jordin convinced me that they should stay on the
ground where we can get rid of waste heat with a nearby river.

The idea is to bounce the lasers from focusing mirrors in GEO.  The
laser stage is taken above the atmosphere with a reusable rocket.  The
laser site is placed 45 deg around the world from the launch point so
you can get behind the stage and have a long enough acceleration path.
 The laser beams go straight up and come down on the laser stage as it
goes up and accelerates to the east.

Keith