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Gun Play: Inside Look at the Outer Planets
Space.com ^
| 6/7/05
| Leonard David
Posted on 06/07/2005 9:01:14 AM PDT by nuke rocketeer
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This sounds like an old SDI Rail gun application being used for other purposes. I'll bet the pentagon has been still funding this stuff and we may be seeing weapon testing soon. Usa a bigger bullet and create a plasma ball to hit stuff in the atmosphere or use it as a space weapon where there will be no worries about atmospheric friction.
To: nuke rocketeer
I think the original purpose of the Z machine was to explore possibilities for nuclear fusion. That's what the guide said when we saw the facilities during a tour of the Sandia Labs when I interviewed there for a job.
2
posted on
06/07/2005 9:03:08 AM PDT
by
boofus
To: nuke rocketeer
Can you attach it to a tracked chassis?
Can you try?
To: Donald Meaker
Not likely, it was the size of a building. You could probably fit it on that tracked monster that the Saturn V rockets were moved around on.
4
posted on
06/07/2005 9:04:42 AM PDT
by
boofus
To: nuke rocketeer
It's an advertisement for the Z machine rather than planetary science as the funding cycle comes around to the feed-me point again.
5
posted on
06/07/2005 9:04:42 AM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Bush got better grades than Kerry)
To: RightWhale
Here's what it looks like when it's got juice applied.
6
posted on
06/07/2005 9:05:51 AM PDT
by
boofus
To: boofus
You are right. The Z machine has been one of the great hopes for nuclear fusion.
7
posted on
06/07/2005 9:07:27 AM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Bush got better grades than Kerry)
To: Donald Meaker
Can you attach it to a tracked chassis? I'll take the JTOW off my 73 Buick and replace it with a Z-gun.....
8
posted on
06/07/2005 9:07:39 AM PDT
by
Onelifetogive
(* Sarcasm tag ALWAYS required. For some FReepers, sarcasm can NEVER be obvious enough.)
To: RightWhale
You are right. The Z machine has been one of the great hopes for nuclear fusion. If it falls into the wrong hands, however, it could cause damage to the southwest landscape...
9
posted on
06/07/2005 9:13:15 AM PDT
by
COBOL2Java
(If this isn't the End Times it certainly is a reasonable facsimile...)
To: Donald Meaker; King Prout
Can you attach it to a tracked chassis?
Heh...sounds like a mental exercise KP and I did a while back to determine whether the hover tanks armed with plasma cannons in Hammers Slammers were possible... they weren't.
To: Dawsonville_Doc
...strike a target after traveling only five millimeters. From the size of it I doubt it is yet to achieve usefulness as a weapon.
11
posted on
06/07/2005 9:48:03 AM PDT
by
Mind-numbed Robot
(Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
To: nuke rocketeer
sounds like a nifty device to lift payloads into orbit, a larger model of course.
In any case, I would like to get one for myself.
12
posted on
06/07/2005 9:51:21 AM PDT
by
mmercier
(and now he lies a useless thing)
To: nuke rocketeer
"Scientists at the Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico have accelerated a small plate from zero to 76,000 mph in less than a second. The speed of the thrust was a new record for Sandias Z Machine not only the fastest gun in the West, but in the world, too."
Let's see what it does with a potato.
To: nuke rocketeer
14
posted on
06/07/2005 9:53:57 AM PDT
by
bobjam
To: nuke rocketeer
It must consume huge amounts of power.
15
posted on
06/07/2005 9:54:32 AM PDT
by
stuartcr
(Everything happens as God wants it to.....otherwise, things would be different.)
To: COBOL2Java
Was ACME the prime contractor?
To: COBOL2Java
Defense contracting giant Acme Dynamics, Inc. [NYSE - ACDY], formerly Acme Corporation, is reportedly backing the research.
"We see the Z-machine technology as very promising," said Acme spokesman Melvin Blank. "It's certainly a step up from the giant rubber bands that we had been working with."
Stock of Acme spinoff Roll-O-Jet, maker of rocket-powered roller skates for NASA, was up three and two-tenths on the news.
17
posted on
06/07/2005 10:02:12 AM PDT
by
Oberon
(What does it take to make government shrink?)
To: BeHoldAPaleHorse; COBOL2Java
Great minds. Yeah, that's it.
18
posted on
06/07/2005 10:03:38 AM PDT
by
Oberon
(What does it take to make government shrink?)
To: nuke rocketeer
have accelerated a small plate from zero to 76,000 mph in less than a second.An understatment similar to claims that Rubik's Cube have "more than 3 million combinations."
If the acceleration is constant, the average velocity is half the total velocity, or 17 km/s. At that speed, it would take about 290 nS to go 5 mm - a bit under a third of a millionth of a second.
19
posted on
06/07/2005 10:06:34 AM PDT
by
coloradan
(Hence, etc.)
To: Oberon; BeHoldAPaleHorse
On the other hand, maybe the Z Machine is the key to achieving "Ludicrous Speed" :-)
20
posted on
06/07/2005 10:13:05 AM PDT
by
COBOL2Java
(If this isn't the End Times it certainly is a reasonable facsimile...)
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