X-Nico

unusual facts about mass driver



Colonization of Mercury

Geologist Stephen Gillett has suggested this will make Mercury an ideal place to build solar sails, which could launch as folded up "chunks" by mass driver from Mercury's surface.

SciLands

Founded in 1977 by Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill, Gerard O'Neill, Princeton University professor and author of The High Frontier, SSI sponsored and conducted research into areas such as solar power satellites, lunar bases, space colonies, asteroid mining, and mass drivers.

The Man Who Sold the Moon

As Harriman predicted, once the first flight succeeds, many seek to invest in his venture to make more flights using a catapult launcher built on Pikes Peak.


see also

Mass Driver 1

The mass driver was inspired and designed by Gerard K. O'Neill of Princeton University (who was on sabbatical at MIT during the 1976-77 academic year) and Henry Kolm of MIT.