From: bondage@frontiernet.net   
      
   Rodney Kelp wrote:   
   >   
   > If you suddenly stopped after orbiting at 18,000mph you'd still drop like a   
   > rock and burn up.   
      
      But still a more manageable situation...if indeed you could kill all   
   your orbital velocity.   
      
   > Maybe we could use a quantam nucleonic reactor to drive a large turbine to   
   > slow the fall. The amount of hafnium 137 needed would fit in a lunch box.   
   > The exhuast thrust could slow you down until you hit atmosphere where the   
   > fan blades would also generate reverse thrust.   
      
      Um, so what is this turbine (no matter how it's powered) doing   
   *before* reaching the atmosphere? If accelerating a reaction mass you've   
   carried along, it's no different than the problem of carrying enough   
   self-combusting rocket fuels into orbit, to do more than the usual   
   de-orbit burn....   
      
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