Building colossal guns has been Hunter’s pet project since 1992, when,
while a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he first
fired a 425-foot gun he built to test-launch hypersonic engines. Its
methane-driven piston compressed hydrogen gas, which then expanded up
the barrel to shoot a projectile. Mechanical firing can fail, however,
so when Hunter’s company, Quicklaunch, released its plans last fall, it
swapped the piston for a combustor that burns natural gas. Heat the
hydrogen in a confined space and it should build up enough pressure to
send a half-ton payload into the sky at 13,000 mph.
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2 Comments in Response to A Cannon for Shooting Supplies into Space
The guy could have put the cannon to the test by shooting supplies into Haiti
Jules Verne had this idea long ago, and wrote the novel "From the Earth to the Moon" about it.
The idea of using the ocean as a vibration buffer is a novelty.
Of course, the Navy has an adaptation for their use. See the FP article at http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?Info=0085504&From=News .