There would be hundreds of balloons along the rail. They also could work as power collectors to the train, solar power.
As for the stability, I really doubt that fixed structures would be a better solution. Something so long would accumulate vibrations from too many sources and it would hardly be able to dissipate that without a complicated design. 2012/4/11 Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> > Daniel Rocha wrote: > > I think the best deal would be hold the rails by the use of balloons, >> which would be anchored between high mountains. >> > > I doubt this would work. Balloons are not stable. They get blown around. > They do not stay exactly in position. If the end of the tube moves around > even a little, the outgoing space ship is moving so fast it will probably > whack into the wall of the tube, which would be catastrophic. > > I will grant that large dirigibles such as the Hindenburg were very stable > in flight, and very quiet inside. In some cases, passengers did not even > realize Hindenburg had taken flight. You could put a milk bottle > upside-down on a table for hours, and it would not topple over. Still, I > doubt you could use it to hold a track to within a few centimeters. > > It would take very large airships to hold up something as heavy as a track > with a space ship in it. > > - Jed > > -- Daniel Rocha - RJ [email protected]
