"Anthony" wrote in message
...

"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
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Space Elevators are obvious, but how does a Space Trim Tab work? :-)

Ron Wanttaja

I dunno, but this seems as good a time as any to bring up a stupid,
complicated idea of mine for access to space.

First, you should be familiar with the Kelly Aerospace idea of towing
the
spaceship to altitude. If not, Google for "Eclipse project", NASA, and
perhaps F106.

Snip

Why not resurrect project Orion and ride the wake of nuclear blasts into
space.

Tony

Cost?
Even if the hardware was free, the infrastructure to support a surface
launch would be awfully expensive. I know Niven & Pournelle had something
like that in Lucifer's Hammer, but that was an effort to throw off alien
conquerors.

I thought Orion was space-to-space transportation.

The system I've proposed wouldn't be cheap, but it could conceivably take
off and land from a regular airport.

Tim Ward