GW is wanting to put people back up on mars and the moon. Sounds good, but I wonder how much it will cost. It sort of reminds me of the part in Contact when multiple nations have to pony up to build the those super structures to launch people through space and time. On the other hand, is this just a re-election ploy?

Regardless, the real impetus behind this post is that I had an idea early this morning. It seems that I tend to have these things in those few hours before you wake up. Generally I'll get up and then not be able to get back to sleep for a couple hours. Ironically enough, the idea is related to somewhat to this news.

I was thinking of superballs and this basic physics experiment. What I am wondering, is why couldn't this be used as a propulsion system to get into the sky?

Things that would be an issue would prolly be the G force on impact. Imagine if you're free falling down a cylinder and then you get a rather violent change in acceleration/velocity as you rocket out into space. The other thing is if you are doing down a cylinder (I imagine you'd want to so you can control your trajectory), you may lose too much to friction (perhaps create a temporary vacuum?).

Anyway...