Comments by "Cestarian Inhabitant" (@cestarianinhabitant5898) on "Real Engineering" channel.

Remember we're dealing with huge payloads, a technology that can launch a ballistic shell at mach 6 will not be able to launch a satellite at the same speed. But I think we can do it. I think probably the main trick to achieve a good launchpad based on this technology would simply to not actually try to capsulate the entire payload like is done for bullets, you don't need this much surface area touching the rails. Essentially I think the rocket or payload should be on top of the rails rather than between them, only a small part of it needs to be between them This means we can use smaller rails for bigger objects which and we will be able to control the rate of acceleration more easily at the cost of needing a longer launchpad. Although considering the price it costs to make a railgun, this is far away.
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