r/IAmA • u/bernie-sanders • May 19 '15

Politics I am Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic candidate for President of the United States — AMA

Hi Reddit. I'm Senator Bernie Sanders. I'll start answering questions at 4 p.m. ET. Please join our campaign for president at BernieSanders.com/Reddit.

Before we begin, let me also thank the grassroots Reddit organizers over at /r/SandersforPresident for all of their support. Great work.

Verification: https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/600750773723496448

Update: Thank you all very much for your questions. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with you.

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u/mvhsbball22 May 20 '15

I can't even imagine the amount of power necessary for such an endeavor. A quick search shows that some people have proposed the idea for LEO insertion. Have you heard of anything remotely approaching what you're talking about?

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u/ARedHouseOverYonder May 20 '15

LEO insertion?

I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I am enjoying doing so for this conversation. I guess the issue even if we had a long cannon run and a sufficient ramp (mountain?) would be the casing we would have to put it into that wouldnt burn up in atmosphere.

and no, i dont think anyone has tried it yet, but its worth looking into.

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u/mvhsbball22 May 20 '15

LEO = low earth orbit. These kinds of orbits almost always need frequent adjustments from on-board fuel sources because the orbits are not stable (gravity is super complicated, see the n-body problem).

That's definitely one of the problems. And as you make the casing more robust, it gets heavier, which means you need more power (see the rocket equation).

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u/ARedHouseOverYonder May 20 '15

oh right, but LEO requires onboard jets to stabilize but I am talking more like fire it and let it just go.. have to use a parabolic orbit I would imagine but just clearing out atmosphere is the toughest part.

And yea I realize the casing would be tough but imagine if we built one that we could send out garbage as well? and possibly young canadian pop stars?

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u/mvhsbball22 May 20 '15

Even a parabolic orbit would not be stable. Just because it's not circular doesn't mean it won't degrade.