https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3255351/nasas-dream-comes-true-china-plans-build-giant-rail-gun-launch-hypersonic-planes-space
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3255351/nasas-dream-comes-true-china-plans-build-giant-rail-gun-launch-hypersonic-planes-space
Its not a new idea, arthur c clarke wrote about a rail launcher in Prelude to Space (1947), he based most of that story on how the scientists at that time expected space travel to happen.
"We have perfected instantaneous teleportation."
"Pfffft, Star Trek did it."
No rail launchers arent new, they just havent been invested in for space travel. At a guess id say because they are expensive and end up stuck in one place, which adds limitations later on
bringing a science fiction concept into reality presents an engineering challenge that requires both research and innovation; research to find what the real life problems stopping you are, and innovation to solve them
By this definition innovation only exists as fictional writings
true, though putting it into practise would still be something else
Implementation is the dividing line between a cool sci-fi idea and actual innovation.
Precisely!