On 09May2020 0844, Vareck Bostrom wrote:
> Which might have resulted from a misunderstanding of what "orbit" is.
> The car can lift itself to orbital distance but not attain orbital
> velocity and just fall back down again.
It was given as taking a number of hours equal to the world's size
number (so 8 hours for Earth, for example). If you do the numbers, even
a quite weak thruster (under 0.1G) can get you to LEO velocity in that
time if it can thrust continuously. So an air/raft would totally be able
to climb to an altitude where the air was thin enough to allow very high
speeds, which would take about an hour at an air/raft's 100 km/h cruise
speed, and then start thrusting horizontally to build speed.

Now, getting where you wanted, on the orbit you wanted is a whole other
issue, and the air/raft clearly wasn't set up with the electronics for
that, and nor were the space suits of the LBBs. So, either you did some
careful claculations before you left and followed them very closely, or
you brought along a good set of navigational instruments and tables etc.
(if on a computer, I hope it's vacuum rated), or you bring a good radio
and have friends up in orbit with a spaceship who can come and get you.
Alternatively, I hope you have another 8+ hours of air, so you can
breathe until you get down again.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>