Why do we need...

[JC1]

Why do we need airplanes, buses and trains to take us places? Since the earth is rotating couldn't we just take some sort of spacehip to the outer atmosphere of our planet, then at certain time when the rotation of the earth is at the point of your destination, drop the spaceship vertically at that point. That would save alot of fuel and headache. I hate flying!

 

Are there flaws with this idea? Any inputs or ideas why it wouldn't work?

[rakuenso]

lol have you considered the fact that spaceships require fuel?

[imasmartgirl]

lol, for one it would take a ton of fuel to get up there. then theres the cost of the spaceship and how many people we can fit in it. then you gotta be right on target when coming down. then theres landing which is impossible unless over the ocean. then theres the danger of it all. and the earth doesn't rotate that fast anyway so by the time you would get to your spot you could have already been there by some other way

[H2SO4]

i wouldnt want to sit up in space for hours jsut doing nothing. (this is if being n space wasnt uncommon)

[JC1]

lol, for one it would take a ton of fuel to get up there. then theres the cost of the spaceship and how many people we can fit in it. then you gotta be right on target when coming down. then theres landing which is impossible unless over the ocean. then theres the danger of it all. and the earth doesn't rotate that fast anyway so by the time you would get to your spot you could have already been there by some other way

 

I agree about the cost of fuel. But landing on the right target shouldn't be any problem---u can find or derive a ten page equation yourself.

[imasmartgirl]

I agree about the cost of fuel. But landing on the right target shouldn't be any problem---u can find or derive a ten page equation yourself.

 

well it would take a ton of fuel to aim yourself on target.

[Xyph]

You'd still have to use fuel to fly against the rotation of the Earth as well, since you wouldn't just lose all that momentum as soon as you left the atmosphere.

[Externet]

JC1 :

You will really, really bang yourself your head against a wall to bleeding when you grow up and read your post a few years from now.

 

Miguel

[bascule]

People have been bouncing around ideas for "space planes" which could do this sort of thing for a long time, but with the goal of speed, not saving fuel/making things cheaper/etc because obviously it would be more expensive and require more fuel. It'd be so expensive, in fact, that no one has ever managed to make it practical.

 

Yes, planes, trains, and automobiles... they're so damn practical...

[ecoli]

I saw something like this on Sci Am fronteirs. It's acutally in the planning stages - by that I mean cool animations and computer models. Basically, IIRC, they have this tunnel carved into a mountain. And a mag lev situation set up. Electromagnets provide the energy to hurl these shuttles into space and use the rotation of the earth to "travel."

[-Demosthenes-]

...and the earth doesn't rotate that fast anyway

700 to 1,000+ miles per hour (depending on how far away form the equator you are). Not enough to be worth actually going into space, but pretty fast.

[Douglas]

Are there flaws with this idea? Any inputs or ideas why it wouldn't work?

It would be cheaper to take an intercontinental ballistic missle. With todays GPS systems, they could deliver you to an office on 187 N. Main Street, 5th floor, suite 512 in Tokyo.

[-Demosthenes-]

It would be cheaper to take an intercontinental ballistic missle.

Sounds vaguely painful though...