The topic has come up on the main blog, but I will post these brainstorm type post on this here blog instead.
Anyway, if a gas gun can expel an object at an escape velocity ( if memory serves ), then it might be useful as a propulsion system in space. That is, the recoil of the huge gas gun could be harvested for delta-v for a rocket. Presumably, it would be better than a rocket, but the effective velocity would be much higher.
Or would it be higher? I'm not savvy enough on these calculations. Perhaps a mathemetically inclined person could answer this. If a gas gun emitted a "shell" that massed out at 1000 kilos, then what kind of delta V could you get out of it to propel a payload through space?
It would depend upon a few considerations, such as the mass of the spacecraft. But also the amount of thrust in the metric system ( newtons ? ). The rocket equation may be able to determine the ISP, I would think.
It's possible that it may be superior to burning the fuel and sending it out a rocket nozzle. If the hydrogen gas were heated more than the heat of combustion from burning it, that would indeed be the case.
How to heat up the gas? Questions, questions.
Somebody smarter than I am could figure it out.
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