From: root@mauve.demon.co.uk   
      
   Allen Meece  wrote:   
   >> Ian Stirling wrote:   
   >>> At 100Km, and at orbital speeds, the pressure exerted by the atmosphere   
   >>> on the vehicle is around 2Kg force/square meter.   
   >>> This will cause a balloon to slow at around 20,000m/s (it'll effectively   
   > come   
   >>> to a stop in half a second and drift down) >>>   
   >   -- Indicating that orbital speeds are prohibited at lower LEO's.   
   >   The beauty of JPA's orbital balloon plan is that there is no need to   
   > raapidly accelerate to orb speed. It's about converting and efficiently using   
   > solar energy to operate an electric drive. Thus, orb speed doesn't *have* to   
   > rapidly occur as it does in a rocket shot. They're talking about taking a   
   week   
   > to reach orbit.   
      
   And lots of people think they are smoking really good drugs.   
   A week to reach orbit implies hypersonic lift over a hundred times   
   better than anyone has ever gotten.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)