The 'Flinger' concept, envisioned as a hybrid-engineered system, would utilize a ground-based maglev or 'railgun' type launch system built onto the side of a suitable mountain ( such as Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii! ) the Flinger would boost un-manned frieght capsules to multiples of the speed of sound at the exit of the raillgun; the second-stage system, a scram-jet module girdling the capsule body, would then activate and take the capsule into the upper troposphere, be jettisoned when empty of fuel, and the third-stage system, a mono-propellant liquid fueled rocket motor, would add sufficient velocity to insert the frieght capsule into a low earth orbit.
The Flinger concept would leverage the benefit of trading a huge lower stage conventional launch rocket for a smaller, safer, less costly method, using electricity as the basic prime mover.
Spent Flinger capsules could be collected and re-configured , into inter-orbit 'taxis' and freight shuttle modules, by adding propellant tanks recycled from other capsules, and modifying the cargo portions for manned-rated operations.
