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Possible space weapons of the future 'Rods from God' and beyond
post-gazette.com ^
| Monday, July 28, 2003
| Jack Kelly
Posted on 08/30/2003 4:26:50 PM PDT by Destro
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:35:18 AM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
'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.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asat; falcon; miltech; sdi; spacebasedweapons; uav; utah
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To: 11B3
How long would the rail gun have to be, and how much power, to juice up a 10' sphere to near c?
61
posted on
08/30/2003 8:08:04 PM PDT
by
mvpel
(Michael Pelletier)
To: general_re
So how am I supposed to prevent that? you work that out after Saddam is monkey chow. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. There's really no clear law on "air rights" for ballistic reentry vehicles, which is what these would be. The Space Shuttle goes through the air space of lots of unfriendly countries on it's way home (depending on definitions). The Russian's reentry vehicles are even more likely to pass through other peoples "owned" airspace. It's really meaningless at this point.
62
posted on
08/30/2003 8:12:21 PM PDT
by
Phsstpok
To: Imal
No, just dayvear, eveningvear and svimvear.ROTFLMAO!! :-D
63
posted on
08/30/2003 8:12:52 PM PDT
by
mvpel
(Michael Pelletier)
To: Destro
tungsten rods perhaps 20 feet long and one foot in diameter Rods? Sounds more like a metal telephone pole.
To: Imal
Also, the late great Robert Heinlein was a towering role model for us Libertarians and those men who aren't afraid to be men. Oddly enough, he was increasingly bereft of traditional mores as he aged. What a coincidence!
65
posted on
08/30/2003 8:51:03 PM PDT
by
risk
To: mvpel
>>>> The book was
that good.
LOL, that's good.
66
posted on
08/30/2003 8:52:45 PM PDT
by
risk
To: RightWhale
You can't. But the international system that governed relations between nations via treaty is dead or wounded. It has been since Clinton violated the international system to go to war in Kosovo. International law is really self-limitations that sovereign nations impose on themselves in order to create or bring some order to the "law of the jungle" that is the reality of geopolitics.
67
posted on
08/30/2003 9:04:30 PM PDT
by
Destro
(Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
BTTT
68
posted on
08/30/2003 9:14:07 PM PDT
by
StriperSniper
(The Federal Register is printed on pulp from The Tree Of Liberty)
To: Coyoteman
The technical term is "SPLAT"
I like FOG: Finger Of God
69
posted on
08/30/2003 9:14:45 PM PDT
by
Kozak
(" No mans life liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session." Mark Twain)
To: RightWhale
I don't believe we can legally station weapons in orbit.Not nuclear ones...
70
posted on
08/30/2003 9:24:57 PM PDT
by
null and void
(And this isn't nuclear...)
To: Sparticus
How much mass does a 1 X 25 foot tungston rod possess and how many can a Saturn V put into orbit (if any)? The biggest probelm with lifting the rods into orbit on a Saturn V is that we have no flight-worthy Saturns, and haven't for about 30 years. Restarting production would be problematic, too. Many off-the-shelf components used to manufacture the big boosters haven't been produced in decades. Some of the companies that built those components are out of business or merged out of existance. The "institutional knowledge" carried in the brains of those who designed and built the Saturns is gone - the majority of those folks are either retired or dead.
Our only real choices for heavy lift capability are to purchase it from the Russians, or to design a new Saturn on a clean sheet of paper.
I vote for the latter.
To: Servant of the Nine
"Rods from God," was technically "Project Thor" back in the 60s and I believe it was one of the programs Pournelle was involved in. The idea was to drop tens of thousands of smaller steel rods unguided into the Fulda Gap as the Soviet tanks came through.Thats' what I hear, from the late 70s.
72
posted on
08/30/2003 9:40:36 PM PDT
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
To: risk
Oddly enough, he was increasingly bereft of traditional mores as he aged. What a coincidence! I think it was all carefully planned, myself. ;^)
73
posted on
08/30/2003 9:47:04 PM PDT
by
Imal
(The World According to Imal: http://imal.blogspot.com)
To: Destro
The Supreme Court better not find out that they are calling them "Rods from God".=o)
To: MissAmericanPie
I'm sure they will rename them "Rods of Social Justice" before trying to run their funding past the Democrats on the Armed Services Committee.
75
posted on
08/30/2003 9:55:57 PM PDT
by
Imal
(The World According to Imal: http://imal.blogspot.com)
To: Phsstpok
Well that explains your screen-name! You're right, of course: Footfall. My bad. I've met Pournelle a couple times too, but nothing he'd remember. He's a regular at the Katofest chili extravaganzas. One thing's for sure about Pournelle: he's sure to be the loudest guy in the room.
To: JSteff
"the only thing that can kill lots of people is political corruption." Like communism and liberals. In other words, Democrats
To: MissAmericanPie; JohnHuang2; Destro
The Supreme Court better not find out that they are calling them "Rods from God".=o) LOL, that's too funny!
78
posted on
08/30/2003 10:12:06 PM PDT
by
risk
To: Ku Commando
Absolutely amazing !! Almost unbelievable !! Now that's a HAMMER !!
I get about 64,000,000,000 joules per rod at impact. Thats about 165,000 times the KE of a Gau 8 30 millimeter round from the A 10 gattling gun.
79
posted on
08/30/2003 10:13:04 PM PDT
by
Kozak
(" No mans life liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session." Mark Twain)
To: Pyrion
>>Mach 10.74.
Your figure differs from the figure the article mentions. (Mach 12).
Sound moves at different speeds. Your calculation uses sound at sea level, which results in your figure.
However, could the altitude account for the difference in Mach figures?
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