Naval Railgun prototype undergoes first tests...

[Motown_Johnny]

23. minor details

and that escape velocity did not include the Earth's own momentum in the calculation.

I'll admit that the atmospheric friction is a problem but it can be overcome. I have lived in Colorado at altitudes above 8,000 and even worked at a couple places above 10,000 ft. There is still air. You can cut 1 or maybe even 2 miles of atmosphere out of the equation but that is about all. You would also want to be able to aim the gun toward the orbit you needed so running up the side of a mountain might not be practical.



http://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/abstracts/04/sbir/phase1/SBIR-04-1-X2.06-7680.html

^snip^

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)

The material developed during this Phase I effort will have a variety of applications in the aerospace industry, and within NASA specifically. Aerogels are the most efficient thermal insulation known, and NASA has several applications that would benefit from the low density and thermal conductivity of aerogels. Among these are replacements for the flexible ceramic blankets, and low-temperature ceramic tiles on the Space Shuttle, as well as replacements for fibrous insulation within the metallic TPS (ARMOR concept). Composites developed on this program will be utilized in the heatshield designs for the spacecrafts undergoing aerocapture or aerobraking maneuvers



OK ok, low temperature ceramic tiles.... but they haven't tried to adopt it yet.