ROCKET CATCHER (Jan, 1953)
ROCKET CATCHER
IF and when space travel becomes a reality, there’ll be the problem of landing high-speed rocket ships. D. B. Driskill of San Francisco thinks he has the answer in his U. S. Patent 2,592,873. He would build a system of telescoping tubes butted against a mountainside or mounted on skis or a train platform. The rocket ship would be guided into the end of the outer tube by radar. This tube would slide into the second tube, braked by air pressure, and then into the main tube. When pressure between the tubes is released, passengers would leave through doors in their walls.
Patent here http://www.google.com/p…
I can just imagine the headlines – “Returing Moon Rocket Crash Blamed on Sneezing Sheep.”
NASA’s motto “Missed it by that much.”
An excellent follow-up to “So You Want to Have a Love Affair?”
Sorta like an inverted supergun? http://en.wikipedia.org…
Who’s gonna want to live in that house, knowing that a speeding rocket is flying that close?
Its ridiculously impractical, unbelievably dangerous, and overtly sexual, all at the same time.
Ole D.B. came up with this idea when his wife commented on his “coming too fast” problem.
“Its ridiculously impractical, unbelievably dangerous, and overtly sexual, all at the same time.”
Just like sex.
Toronto: I didn’t know Maxwell Smart was a NASA spokesperson
“Its ridiculously impractical, unbelievably dangerous, and overtly sexual, all at the same time.”
Are we talking about the rocket catcher or the issue cover?
@Snark: YES!
In the main picture there are supports holding up each tube section. In the landed picture the supports are gone. Where did they go?
The rocket actually doesn’t start to slow down until it reaches the second tube section (before that it’s just going down a pipe). I assume the rocket is coming in at approx 500km/h and has to stop in about 150 metres (max). Anyone know roughly what force that would be on the passengers?
Also what happens if the parachute gets caught on the end of the train? I assume it just gets ripped off.
darren: #12 knocked to the sides by rockets wings? #13 I was going to write a longer answer, but have you ever seen this kind of contraption catching rockets anywhere in the world? That moots all of your questions, as it just doesn’t work.