NASA Building Giant Roller Coaster For Science

Jamie found a story of NASAs Giant "Science" Roller Coaster. It will be used as an escape chute on rocket launchpads, and will be the 3rd highest drop in the world. More like the Cedar Point Demon Drop than a roller coaster, but still, I'd ride it.

Is this really good for anything?

[Maximum Prophet]

Has NASA ever had an accident where 4 minutes to escape is good enough? Most of the accidents that I've read about went "Boom" and was over, long before any escape system like this could work.

Whee!

[cheebie]

I was at Cape Canaveral this past spring, just as a tourist. (Missed
Buzz Aldrin signing his book by half an hour, dernit!) We took the better
tour that let you see more of the launch pads and the construction sites.

Anyway, the escape system they have right now is a zip line. If something
bad is about to happen, the astronauts grab onto the harness and slide down
a metal cable. There's a sorta-fire-proof vehicle at the end of the zip line
ready to haul ass at a moments notice. Their instructions were to get in the
vehicle and take off. Fast. I assume praying would also be involved. The
guide said that MIGHT be enough to keep them from becoming BBQ, but not blowing
up the craft is still the best strategy.

Getting blown into space on top of a barely controlled explosion is still a
pretty dangerous profession. I admire those with the guts to do it.

Coaster trajectory versus old escape system

[hcdejong]

It looks like this track goes straight down along the launch tower, while the old system had wires going from the top of the tower at a shallow angle. It seems to me that the old solution gets you out of the blast radius quicker. It certainly stays farther away from the noisy end of the rocket.