Hopefully, over the past few posts, I have convinced you that using chemical rockets to get to space is a pretty horrible way of doing it. And, just as I am certain that I will continue to post about this technology, I am certain that we will continue to use them, since it is really the only way to actually climb out of this gravity well that we call home (at this time!). But, my friends, trust me when I tell you that there is something better. Actually, there are a number of technologies that are being worked on that may be better. All of them have some really major issues, but it is good that we are trying.
This is the first post in a series that is going to explore some alternate ways of getting around the solar system and off of this rock. And, because I like you guys, I am not going to start off with #10 and work up to #1. I am going to start off with the craziest possible way of getting us into space. (There are crazier ways of getting around the solar system, though!) Let’s get started.
Once upon a time, there lived a guy named Gerald Bull. Yes, he was sort of short and stocky. And Canadian. Here is a picture of him:
Gerald Bull came up with a fantastic idea. In 1961 he bought a 16-inch battleship gun from the US Navy for about $2000. That isn’t 16 inches long, that is 16 inches in diameter. He moved it to Barbados and started running tests with it. He put atmospheric sensing instruments into the noses of the shells, and then fired them into the atmosphere. These shells were about 150 kg and could go to altitudes of about 100,000 ft, or about 20 miles. In the air. By the way, these “rockets” were called Martlets. His program was called the High Altitude Research Program, or HARP.
Ok, let’s step back for a minute and think about this. Bull was firing a gigantic cannon straight up in the air with things that weighted about 300+ pounds. I launch weather balloons. These go up to the same height with packages that weigh 12 lbs. Bull was doing some crazy stuff! Interestingly, there is really not a great way of sampling this part of the atmosphere, since it is really hard for airplanes to fly this high. Satellites can’t orbit this low because the atmosphere is incredibly “thick” there. So, rockets are about the only good way to take in situ measurements in this area (well, above about 100,000 ft, or 30 km to about 200+ km) of the atmosphere. Bull fired about 1,000 of these Martlets into the atmosphere in just a year or so.
But it really doesn’t stop there.
In 1963, Bull created the Martlet-3, which reached over 100 km altitude. He could launch a “rocket” that could go up to space for about $5000. Considering that rockets can cost over a million dollars that do the same thing, this is super freaking cheap.
He then extended the length of the cannon to about 110 feet with the ultimate goal of launching things into orbit. (The reason that you extend the length of the cannon is because you can get the force of the expanding gas for longer, allowing the projectile to accelerate for longer.) His idea was to build a rocket that would be shot up to about 100 km, and then the rocket would fire and take the payload into orbit. This would be extremely cheap, since the majority of the mass to get something into orbit is used up just to get up to the right altitude. If you can get the “third-stage” of a rocket up to 100 km altitude with a big gun, then it is super cheap to get to orbit! His Martlets got up to 180 km altitude for a world record that is still in existence.
Unfortunately, Bull never reached this goal. There was a ton of red tape, with the US and Canadian government involved. Bull did not really believe in red tape and so he left the program. Bull continued to love big guns and started working for some shady people, developing highly accurate guns that could be used by one country against another. Ultimately, he worked for Iraq in helping them develop the Scud missiles that were supposed to be used against Israel. It turns out that Israel doesn’t really like this type of behavior, and Bull ended up with a few bullets in him in March of 1990.
The moral of the story (besides “don’t screw with Israel”) is that we could actually use a big gun to get us to outer space and ultimately into orbit. We don’t even need gunpowder to do this anymore – we can use the same technology that drives super-fast roller coasters and trains: linear induction motors. This technology has led to the development of rail guns by the Navy. You seriously have to watch this video. This is a massive increase in our technological capabilities. Basically, you accelerate the “bullet” up to speeds of about 4,000 miles per hour in the barrel of a gun. Serious horsepower.
If we can use this technology to knock things out of the sky, why aren’t we using it to put things into orbit? That is a fantastically good question!
There are two problems with this idea (beyond Israel killing you for trying):
- If you got something up to orbital speeds as it left the gun, it would slow down extremely quickly because of atmospheric drag. Really, you want to have it launched upwards, and when it gets well above the atmosphere, have it accelerate up to orbital speeds using fuel. This is somewhat complicated.
- The accelerations that take place with this are just unbelievably horrendous. A human would be a pancake if they were launched like this. So, humans will NEVER be launched into space using a bug gun. Maybe a very very very long runway, but never something super efficient like a gun. But, supplies and fuel and other things like instruments could be launched into orbit using this technique.
There are researchers who are working on techniques that could be used independently or in conjunction with a big gun, so that you wouldn’t have to actually take fuel to get to orbit either. While that is interesting, it is no where as cool as the Martlet. Seriously. Gerald Bull. What a guy.