Subject: Re: Ground-powered Rocket? Conductive Contrail?
From: Damon Hill <damon1six1@comcast.not>
References: <cmr1r7$9k4r$1@saturn.cs.uml.edu>
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 18:52:29 -0600
Newsgroups: sci.physics.plasma,sci.energy

ZZ
manofsan@yahoo.com (sanman) wrote in
news:cmr1r7$9k4r$1@saturn.cs.uml.edu:

>
> Another silly idea I'd like to ask about -- could a channel of ionized
> gas be used to feed electric current from a ground station to power a
> rocket ascending to orbit?

What's the return path going to be? Electricity flows in a
circle. What's the electricity going to power?

I think it'd be a lot simpler to use the laser to heat a
reaction mass carried by the rocket; it's been experimentally
demonstrated.

--Damon





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