We're in what-if/xkcd again!

[TechnicalK3rbal]

http://what-if.xkcd.com

Just wanted to share that.

[Blind Dead McJones]

Basically, a depressed trajectory is a suborbital flight with the apoapsis inside the atmosphere. I didn't feel like reading an entire 59 page PDF about it, but I'm starting to wonder which path would take more delta-V, the one through the atmosphere or the one that needs to get all the way into space. Of course, the Kerbal aerodynamic model makes it quite a bit different too.

Anyway, I think the reason KSP players would be familiar is because suborbital hops on planets without atmosphere tend to have a lower apoapsis because there's nothing to slow you down, so making a high arc trajectory is just a waste of fuel.

[saabstory88]

I saw this, and realized there is an objective answer.

Given:

Tim must be the author of the letter.

The letter must arrive in his mothers hands in New Jersey.

The letter must be handwritten by a person.

This method will allow for a total delivery time which can be less than 5 minutes, and use only items which the average person has available.

Tim picks up the phone, and calls his mother. He asks her to go fetch a pen and paper. Tim dictates the letter to his mother.

Tim is still the author of the letter. The contents of the letter can travel at a maximum speed only limited by his rate of speech, the transmission rate of the telecom network, and the speed with which his mothers brain can decode the words and put them to paper. The letter is still hand written, and is available to her in its original form in her home in New Jersey.

This method satisfies all of the requirements, and considers total preparation time from initial idea to do so, and time to her having a complete letter in her hands. Even the fastest methods of travel would still require the letter to be delivered to the start point, complete its journey, and make its way to the mother.