I went to the Kennedy Space Center a while ago to watch the Shuttle launch with my dad who works for a rocket propulsion company. I asked him what he thought a

I went to the Kennedy Space Center a while ago to watch the Shuttle launch with my dad who works for a rocket propulsion company. I asked him what he thought about the magnetic launch idea...err "launch loop" as the article says...and surprisingly he said the idea wasn't so far-fetched. One of the main problems with getting things into space is that you have to pass through a zone called "Max Q" I guess, where the pressure is maximized and can literally flatten you. The Shuttle apparently throttles back when approaching this point. So propulsion isn't always the limiting factor. There are many different problems that occur when getting things into space. One interesting side-note. He also thought scraping the Saturn V rocket was a huge mistake. Not only could it carry a massive payload, but it was equipped with numerous abort modes which aren't present on the new launch vehicles. Oh, and it had 100% mission success, which isn't true for the "new" systems they developed.