NewsWeak idiots
Since rail guns are not actively propelled and have no warhead, by the time you got to 125 miles, there will be very little energy left.
Useful for probably 10 miles max.
I imagine if it were a big piece of metal it would pack a wallop.
I am wondering if they could remote control the thing—like have little wings come out with an antenna. That tech probably could not survive the launch.
Science reporting in the msm is fundamentally awful
Imagine trying to hit something 125 miles away with a non-guided projectile (solid mass)? Non-line-of-sight, projectile weight deviations, multiple wind velocities and directions, rain pockets, natural barriers, etc... crazy.
If it is already Mach 6 when it leaves the barrel, air resistance is not going to much of an issue for quite a while. After you get past about Mach 1.2, drag is reduced substantially, so the inertia of the projectile could carry it pretty far.
Well, it’ll be better than that. Depending on the trajectory, it would go miles in the air. And physics tells us (as do meteorite strikes) that whatever energy it had in the vertical direction going up, it will reclaim coming down (discounting air resistance). Depending on the shape and size of the projectile, the terminal velocity could be quite great - BIG impact.