highway in space

a maglev track could be built in space relatively near earth 

that accelerates a rocket towards mars 

the maglev track could be stabilized after each launch 

with thrusters built into the outside of the maglev track 

the maglev track could be powered with solar panels 

that store energy in batteries 

maglev tracks use superconductors 

the superconductors would be cooled by the cold temperature of space 

which would enable new design decisions that are not practical on earth 

there is no air resistance in space, obviously 

which enables the maglev track to use extremely high acceleration 

and which enables the rockets to be much thicker and wider 

than the maglev track 

high acceleration would be lethal to humans 

so rockets carrying humans would need to have lower acceleration 

when accelerated by maglev track 

while the maglev track could accelerate autonomous cargo rockets 

and autonomous rockets carrying robots 

at a higher acceleration which would enable the autonomous rockets to travel at a higher speed 

the maglev track would have to be relatively long 

to accelerate rocket to sufficiently high speed 

to make the travel from earth to mars quick 

which would make the maglev track expensive 

the maglev track could also accelerate rockets toward incoming asteroids 

the rockets would land on asteroid and use rocket engines to push asteroid into a new path 

this functionality would enable the project to get funding from militaries 

and/or possibly from a global asteroid defense effort 

a maglev track on the moon accelerating rockets 

towards mars or the asteroid belt could be a sensible start