Since the US military sucks up nearly a trillion dollars of our income taxes every year, they have plenty of money to blow, and here's one of the cool toys such prodigious amounts of cash will buy: it's a giant magnetic slingshot. But the spending has hardly even started on this one yet—the Air Force so far has contributed a paltry half million dollars to LaunchPoint Technologies to develop its idea of a satellite launch system that accelerates its payload around a giant ring using magnetic levitation (MagLev) technology.
How are they really going to use this?
This all sounds like a great idea until you realize that the 220-pound payload proposed to be launched by this device will be exposed to 10,000Gs of force as it's accelerated to a speed of 6 miles per second. Heck, that's 21,600mph. Imagine the noise that thing will make. Notice in the pictures here that it's situated out in the middle of nowhere.
Satellite launcher? We're thinking it's probably going to be slinging lethal projectiles at those who hate America, rather than launching harmless and useful things like satellites.
Fonte: http://www.gizmodo.comSe nn avete capito (forse neanche io, visto che nn ho neanche letto l'articolo... asd) è un enorme anello magnetico che viene utilizzato come una rampa di lancio per eventuali satelliti o missili. Riesce a generare una forza incredibile! Sono 10mila G di forza centrifuga, 9km al secondo e 34.560 kmh! Avete capito bene, trentaquattromila kilometri all'ora! Ovviamente questo aggeggino costa pochino (mille miliardi di dollari) e l'unico che può costruirlo sono i cari americani... Così Bush può spingere un bottoncino e distruggere la Luna, o Marte... Sempre per il bene di tutti... Ovvio!