I think you'd have much better luck turning the rocket into some kind of a sabot round and spending a week compressing a bunch of air into huge tanks and launch

I think you'd have much better luck turning the rocket into some kind of a sabot round and spending a week compressing a bunch of air into huge tanks and launching it that way. That's how subs launch ICBMs. The reason that's not done is that rockets aren't reliable enough yet and nobody wants to bet their billion dollar cargo on the engines starting the first time, every time. If you lose every 100th ICBM it's a bummer, but it doesn't make MAD not happen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aPvGGvnAGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aPvGGvnAGQ