When launching a rocket, a large percentage of its fuel is used not only to gain altitude and accelerate from 0 to the speed of sound but to also overcome the drag from the denser air of the lower atmosphere. Could a hybrid rocket be used to overcome these challenges? Launched from inside a high mountain with ground-based energy, it could already have achieved significant altitude and velocity before even starting its engines in the higher thinner air of the upper atmosphere. The entire facility needed could even be hollowed out of a mountain so that all that’s visible from the outside is the launch tube door.

• LAUNCH TUBE- A near verticle tube used to launch the rocket. (It could be cut in the mountain with a machine currently used to cut subway tunnels.) Before launch, the launch tube vacuum door is closed. With the rocket at the base of the tube, the air in the tube is pumped out, creating a vacuum. At launch, the rocket is pushed through the launch tube using power created from the power tube. As the rocket accelerates through the tube, air is blown in behind it, when it reaches Mach 0.99 near the end of the tube, built-up air pressure from residual air in front of the rocket becomes slightly higher than the outside air pressure at the top of the mountain. Just as the rocket gets to the end of the tube, the launch tube vacuum door is blown open. The rocket exits the tube just under the speed of sound. When clear of the mountain, the main engine ignites and the rocket continues on its trajectory to orbit.
• POWER TUBE– A verticle tube cut in the mountain to provide the energy to launch. Energy, both Kinetik and electromagnetic is produced by dropping a massive weighted magnet through the coil lined power tube. Before launch, the weighted magnet (weighing more than the launch vehicle) is slowly raised to the top of the power tube and the air is pumped out creating a vacuum. At launch, the weighted magnet is dropped down the power tube. The Kinetik and electromagnetic energy released is used to power the rocket through the tube. The best means of energy transfer between the power tube and the rocket is still to be designed.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com