jsprogrammer

Not long ago, someone from a code camp negotiated 250k total annual compensation from an SF short-term rental company.

Can we get a fact check, YC?

What? Uber is just a black hole? What about the driver? Who received most of that money for their services? That driver can now use that money to invest in the way they wish.

You can't run along the ground because you don't want to go too fast through atmosphere.

Originating somewhere around Mojave and launching towards Las Vegas could work.

Alternatively, you may want to launch over the ocean for safety reasons, but it seems like you may be subject to more weather concerns.

Pushing other peoples' cars around does sound kind of fun, but I hope we'll have something better to do than frustrate commuters.

Yes, it means you have to go through the atmosphere, but it doesn't take far to clear. That will effect the calculations some, but not much. What will really effect the calculations though, is the cost of electricity. Generation costs will surely drop below $0.04.

Further, transmission loss can be almost entirely mitigated by generating and supplying the required power on-track.

Launches in favorable conditions (moon and/or planet alignments) would probably make some launches even cheaper. Of course, if the launcher were operating continuously, the savings would be used up during unfavorable conditions.

    $=100p

    m=10,000kg
    a=90m/s^2
    vf=7500m/s
    vi=0

    F=ma
    W=Fd
    P=W(t^-1)

    t=(vf-vi)/a
    d=(vf-vi)^2/(2a)

    t=7500/90
     ~83.33s

    d=7500^2/180
     =312,500m

    F=10000(90)
     =900,000N

    W=900000(312,500)
     =281,250,000,000J

    P=90(281250000000)/7500
     =3,375,000,000W

     3,375,000kW * ((7500 / 90) / 3600 s/hr) = 78,125 kWh
     78,125 kWh * $0.04/kWh = $3,125 / launch

     10,000 kg/launch / 3,125 $/launch = 3.2 kg/$ = $0.3125/kg

An aerodynamic vehicle could be extremely safe; in the event of a failure, you could just glide back to the ground. The possibility of violent explosion would be practically non-existent.

The ~200km required is daunting, but imminently possible.

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    call(param);
    data.key = cache[0];

I don't get why people don't understand its popularity.

HTML lets you put boxes on the screen and CSS lets you paint-by-number(id/name/selector).

If you aren't doing any of those things, I am very curious to know what exactly you are doing.