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Because launches have a probability of exploding, which would dust/litter the planet with pretty nasty debris. Getting to the Sun isn't actually that easy. You

Because launches have a probability of exploding, which would dust/litter the planet with pretty nasty debris. Getting to the Sun isn't actually that easy. You also need to counter Earth's orbital velocity. That's takes a lot of energy - a lot more than leaving the solar system. It would be easier to fling it into interstellar space than to get to the Sun.

trhway 12y ago
>Because launches have a probability of exploding, which would dust/litter the planet with pretty nasty debris. it is chemical rockets what explode. The rail/gun systems my potentially have crashes, and the cargo shells designed to sustain 5000g acceleration should go through crashes just fine. Anyway, it willn't be like an atomic explosion, and we did have a share of it :) >It would be easier to fling it into interstellar space than to get to the Sun. nope. The Sun's escape velocity from Earth's orbit is 42km/s. While Earth's orbital speed is 30km/s, and you actually don't need the full 30km/s - Earth's gravitation escape is 11km/s, so those 11km/s pointed opposite Earth's speed will result in cargo getting "free" from Earth and having 19km/s on the Earth's orbit - that's would result in the cargo going down toward the Sun at it is obviously less than required orbital speed at the Earth's orbit of 30km/s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity#List_of_escape_velocities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity#List_of_escape_...
- mikeash 12y ago
  You've got some confusion there. The 11km/s escape velocity from Earth is how much the Earth's gravity slows you down as you leave it. When you reach escape velocity, it doesn't mean you leave the Earth's influence with 11km/s. It means that if you're going 11km/s near the Earth, you'll leave the Earth's influence before you fall back down. If you just barely escape, your velocity relative to the Earth will be small. What does matter is Earth's orbital speed, though. That counts towards the 42km/s you need to escape from the Sun, assuming you're smart enough to launch in the direction of the Earth's motion. That means you only need 12km/s additional velocity, whereas you need to cancel out virtually all of that 30km/s velocity to fall into the Sun.
  - trhway 12y ago
    >That means you only need 12km/s additional velocity, whereas you need to cancel out virtually all of that 30km/s velocity to fall into the Sun. no. Anything less than 30km/s will cause you to lose the orbit and start falling down toward Sun. >If you just barely escape, your velocity relative to the Earth will be small. and if it is in the opposite direction, you'd start falling. You're right though that it willn't be 19km/s - my mistake here. Edit: to jwilliams below - what do you think happens when your speed is lower than the orbital speed?
    - jwilliams 12y ago
      I think you're using an orbital model of Earth. Orbiting bodies "fall" largely because of friction with the atmosphere. This won't exist for your sun-shot.
    - derekp7 12y ago
      ::what do you think happens when your speed is lower than the orbital speed? Answer: you move to a lower orbit, then stay there. When you try to reduce orbital velocity (say by firing thrusters in the opposite direction), you change to a lower orbit -- you don't just start free falling to the object you are orbiting. In fact, the net effect is that your actual velocity will increase. For example Mercury's velocity is 170,503 km/h, while Earth's is 107,218 km/h, and Mars is 86,677 km/h. Here's another counter-intuitive thing about orbital mechanics. Say you want to catch up to something in front of you -- you fire reverse thrusters, which causes you to fall into a lower (and faster) orbit, then you can fire forward thrusters to raise your orbit once you catch up to the other object (i.e., you do a move that you would normally do to "slow down" in order to "speed up").
      - JumpCrisscross 12y ago
        > When you try to reduce orbital velocity (say by firing thrusters in the opposite direction), you change to a lower orbit -- you don't just start free falling to the object you are orbiting. Well, technically you do just start free falling - you have been the entire time you've been orbiting.
dalke 12y ago
I believe that assumes the goal is to have a circular orbit around the sun. If you want to crash into the sun, do a flyby of Venus and let gravity bend the path into the Sun. In any case, I agree that the chance of launch failure is too high for this to be reasonable.

trhway 12y ago

>Because launches have a probability of exploding, which would dust/litter the planet with pretty nasty debris. it is chemical rockets what explode. The rail/gun systems my potentially have crashes, and the cargo shells designed to sustain 5000g acceleration should go through crashes just fine. Anyway, it willn't be like an atomic explosion, and we did have a share of it :) >It would be easier to fling it into interstellar space than to get to the Sun. nope. The Sun's escape velocity from Earth's orbit is 42km/s. While Earth's orbital speed is 30km/s, and you actually don't need the full 30km/s - Earth's gravitation escape is 11km/s, so those 11km/s pointed opposite Earth's speed will result in cargo getting "free" from Earth and having 19km/s on the Earth's orbit - that's would result in the cargo going down toward the Sun at it is obviously less than required orbital speed at the Earth's orbit of 30km/s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity#List_of_escape_velocities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity#List_of_escape_...

mikeash 12y ago
You've got some confusion there. The 11km/s escape velocity from Earth is how much the Earth's gravity slows you down as you leave it. When you reach escape velocity, it doesn't mean you leave the Earth's influence with 11km/s. It means that if you're going 11km/s near the Earth, you'll leave the Earth's influence before you fall back down. If you just barely escape, your velocity relative to the Earth will be small. What does matter is Earth's orbital speed, though. That counts towards the 42km/s you need to escape from the Sun, assuming you're smart enough to launch in the direction of the Earth's motion. That means you only need 12km/s additional velocity, whereas you need to cancel out virtually all of that 30km/s velocity to fall into the Sun.
- trhway 12y ago
  >That means you only need 12km/s additional velocity, whereas you need to cancel out virtually all of that 30km/s velocity to fall into the Sun. no. Anything less than 30km/s will cause you to lose the orbit and start falling down toward Sun. >If you just barely escape, your velocity relative to the Earth will be small. and if it is in the opposite direction, you'd start falling. You're right though that it willn't be 19km/s - my mistake here. Edit: to jwilliams below - what do you think happens when your speed is lower than the orbital speed?
  - jwilliams 12y ago
    I think you're using an orbital model of Earth. Orbiting bodies "fall" largely because of friction with the atmosphere. This won't exist for your sun-shot.
  - derekp7 12y ago
    ::what do you think happens when your speed is lower than the orbital speed? Answer: you move to a lower orbit, then stay there. When you try to reduce orbital velocity (say by firing thrusters in the opposite direction), you change to a lower orbit -- you don't just start free falling to the object you are orbiting. In fact, the net effect is that your actual velocity will increase. For example Mercury's velocity is 170,503 km/h, while Earth's is 107,218 km/h, and Mars is 86,677 km/h. Here's another counter-intuitive thing about orbital mechanics. Say you want to catch up to something in front of you -- you fire reverse thrusters, which causes you to fall into a lower (and faster) orbit, then you can fire forward thrusters to raise your orbit once you catch up to the other object (i.e., you do a move that you would normally do to "slow down" in order to "speed up").
    - JumpCrisscross 12y ago
      > When you try to reduce orbital velocity (say by firing thrusters in the opposite direction), you change to a lower orbit -- you don't just start free falling to the object you are orbiting. Well, technically you do just start free falling - you have been the entire time you've been orbiting.

dalke 12y ago

I believe that assumes the goal is to have a circular orbit around the sun. If you want to crash into the sun, do a flyby of Venus and let gravity bend the path into the Sun. In any case, I agree that the chance of launch failure is too high for this to be reasonable.