Possible space weapons of the future 'Rods from God' and beyond

post-gazette.com ^ | Monday, July 28, 2003 | Jack Kelly

[Destro]

'Rods from God'

In April, within 15 minutes of receiving a report that Saddam Hussein had entered a restaurant in Baghdad, a B-1B bomber dropped four 2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs on the place.

It now appears Saddam slipped out of the building by a secret exit. But if one space-based weapon now being researched had been orbiting above Iraq -- and had worked as envisioned -- Saddam almost certainly wouldn't have got away.

[Imal]

Indeed, anyone who knows anything about SF knows just how influential "the Godfather of Science Fiction" was. Certainly the use of bombardment from space (specifically, the moon) to influence events on earth was central to the plot of this groundbreaking and seminal novel, and predates Pournelle's work (also excellent) by a healthy margin.

Also, the late great Robert Heinlein was a towering role model for us Libertarians and those men who aren't afraid to be men. He was the antithesis of the weakly nerd and quite a swordsman, too.

We have yet to unlock most of the benefits of his vision.

TANSTAAFL, brother!

[Destro]

Ever read Pournelle's "Jannisaries" trilogy?

[ahadams2]

precisely - with one giant flechette!

[general_re]

Well, hey - as long as we're going to let the lawyers design the plane, we might as well build one that doesn't fly at all. No danger of accidental overflights that way ;)

[aruanan]

Jerry Pournelle, a science writer and chairman of the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy, came up with the idea, which he originally named "Thor" after the Norse god of thunder.

And Jerry Pournelle got it from Robert Heinlein in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

[aruanan]

Thanks.

[gitmo]

Footfall.

[11B3]

Replace the tungsten rod with a tungsten or depleted uranium sphere with a diameter of just over 10'. Launch it from an orbiting rail gun or from the Moon, but since you're in a vacuum let the muzzle velocity be just below c. That sphere could rupture tectonic plates, creating cataclysmic geological events. (I did a research paper on that years ago in college, and my liberal prof hated the idea - even though the calculations stood up.)

[Dark Wing]

Thor lives!

[autoresponder]

and AIDS

[Savage Beast]

Hey, you know those spycams that can read an auto license plate from an orbiting satellite? They need to ratchet up the magnification so they can read irises and do facial recognition. Then fire the Rods from God!

[JSteff]

add

[JSteff]

I hardly think it would bounce around... more like vaporize most of the tank.

[JSteff]

I hardly think it would bounce around... more like vaporize most of the tank.

[JSteff]

Cool. We will then really be the power no country or person can hope to equal. Castro or Kim says something bad about us or what they might do to us.... they get a rod. Arafat lets another suicide bombing happen,,, rod time. Chirac starts the sh-t again...

Perfect. How can they prove it was us? Opps - someone proves it is us using rods.. they get one. Rod power=dominence.

[Phsstpok]

Pournelle (with Larry Niven) conjectured a similar kinetic-energy weapon--space rocks--as the Earth-pacifying weapon used by the aliens in A Mote In God's Eye.

right authors, wrong book. The two of them had aliens conquering Earth (or trying to - we beat them with a kick ass project Orion based "big dumb booster" with attitude) in Footfall. Pournelle wrote the chapter about how the aliens (looked like baby elephants with trunks that split into 8 "digits") defeated the Kansas militia (the chapter was title "The Jayhawk War") using the flying crowbars from Pournelle's days advising President Reagan. His other little contribution came to be called "Star Wars" by it's critics.

The aliens in Footfall used the space rocks for more spectactular impacts, such as wiping out life in the southern part of the continent of Africa. That was the "foot" in the title. Good book.

The whole "chairman of the council" bit is a little dated. According to Niven they haven't met in about 20 years. Almost all the meetings took place at Niven's house, by the way. I spent a long drunken weekend with the two of them at a Con here in Memphis about 20 years ago. Fun guys. I would run into Jerry Pournelle almost every year at Comdex following that and he'd remember me, which was flattering. He wouldn't, however, remember what we did while we were together, so he'd always ask me not to mention anything to his wife, just in case (g).

[JSteff]

"the only thing that can kill lots of people is political corruption." Like communism and liberals.

[Phsstpok]

So how can you possibly guarantee that a bomb will "enter the atmosphere over a target"?

that's what the little Intel products are for. You give the things just enough guidance and brains to get it to the target you have in mind. Doesn't have to be much. You can get these things to come down in the general area with high school physics and a calculator out of a cracker jacks box. Use the terminal guidance stuff from a JDAM or something similar and your done... or they're done, depending on how you want to phrase it.

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

nice try

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

Screw tungsten, just use concrete.

Coat it with NASA shuttle S#IT, and run like hell!