this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2026
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The railgun projectile is comparatively tiny. The energy requirements to put anything of significance into orbit by that method would be prohibitive.
How about Lake Cabo Venezuela, they have so much lightning they can read a newspaper at night over 200 nights of the year.
Find places like that, set up lightning towers, with super heavy wires to carry the current (also prohibitively expensive but would pay for itself in this.) and use that, perhaps combined with added electricity. Lightning is a lot a lot, but just for an instant, which is exactly what a rail gun needs.
But I haven't done the math maybe it's too big for lightning idk.
The first rail guns on navy ships had a huge flywheel they would get spinning super fast then kick off electromagnets to bring it to an instant halt and generate a large spike of electricity. I think they had to be replaced regularly because the amount of current would blow them out.