[sneak]

> And if it doesn't the whole instillation goes boom.

The projectile is going to go boom when it hits the thick lower atmosphere going many times the speed of sound when it exits the vacuum chamber regardless.

[themgt]

Reaching max q at T+0.0001 seconds while 1 inch away from the launch site's massive expensive centrifuge. It's a bold strategy, Cotton.

[greypowerOz]

I hear you :) but IIRC the US "rail guns" are generating muzzle velocities in this speed range (?)

I've seen very spectacular footage of these rounds tearing a hole in the atmosphere ... so maybe our shared intuition isn't reliable...

or maybe once you get a cross section bigger than a playing card, things become.... interesting at these speeds at sea level;)