I feel like I remember seeing a steampunk variant of this idea in some animation/comic (maybe in the Flight series or Bolt City?)
Scene: ten miles over a major metropolitan city, an ICBM is racing in. Seconds later the nose cone is jettisoned and a cluster of small cones begin pouring out. Little grid fins pop out and they scatter out like dandylion seeds to the wind. Zooming on one, we watch it hurtle towards an enormous skyscraper. The cone's nose begins blinking from green to red, blinking faster as it approaches its target. Screaming closer and closer, we see the tower suddenly open a panel showing a large tank and the cone slams into it with an enormous splash. As it settles a platform gently captures it and raises it up to a crew of people with mail carts ready to distribute the packages.
jccooper|11 years ago
You know, that started as a joke, but cut it in half with reusable stages and that's really not too far off for intercontinental overnight delivery.
HCIdivision17|11 years ago
Scene: ten miles over a major metropolitan city, an ICBM is racing in. Seconds later the nose cone is jettisoned and a cluster of small cones begin pouring out. Little grid fins pop out and they scatter out like dandylion seeds to the wind. Zooming on one, we watch it hurtle towards an enormous skyscraper. The cone's nose begins blinking from green to red, blinking faster as it approaches its target. Screaming closer and closer, we see the tower suddenly open a panel showing a large tank and the cone slams into it with an enormous splash. As it settles a platform gently captures it and raises it up to a crew of people with mail carts ready to distribute the packages.