A mass driver is an electromagnetic catapult that launches payloads into orbit using a linear motor. High-speed linear motors are railguns and coilguns, with coilguns being used in mass driver propositions due to their control over speed and acceleration. Mass drivers could compete with chemical rockets, space elevators, and space fountains, and could make cheap interstellar travel possible.
A mass driver refers to some form of electromagnetic catapas used to launch a payload into orbit faster than the escape velocity. A mass driver would use a linear motor, designed to force an object in one direction and then release it, as opposed to a rotary motor. Momentum carries the item the rest of its intended course.
Linear motors use electromagnetic force to propel a projectile or carrier unit forward. High speed linear motors are both railgun and coilgun. Railguns use the Lorentz force, which propels a projectile perpendicular to a flowing magnetic field; whereas coilguns use a sequence of alternately firing electromagnets to propel a projectile. There is a subtle difference.
All of the mass driver propositions use coil guns rather than rail guns. The sequential and timed nature of electromagnets allows you to more accurately determine speed and acceleration. This control allows passengers and cargo to be exposed to minimal g-forces.
The mass driver is a technology intended to disrupt the chemical rocket. It may end up competing with the space elevator or space fountain. If a lower acceleration factor is desired, a mass driver must consist of a longer and more gradual track. Most of the proposed routes are at least in the tens of kilometers (or tens of miles). Some space enthusiasts have suggested the savannahs of Africa as the best place to build a mass driver due to their flat terrain.
Some mass driver proposals involve a spacecraft pushing chunks of material out of its rear end instead of being fired by a mass driver. Combinations of both are certainly possible, and most mass driver designs proposed involve receive drivers designed to extract as much momentum as possible from the incoming projectile.
Mass drivers could one day make cheap interstellar travel possible. Using huge tubes thousands of kilometers long, the pods would be propelled from star to star at relativistic speeds. Only the intervening dust particles subtract from the object’s momentum, while the rest would be caught on the other side. Mass drivers could open up the galaxy for travel.
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