But why, there are already more than enough ways to kill people. And yet somehow sane and affordable healthcare is out of reach.
To be fair, coming up with new weapons is a lot simpler than fixing the world's healthcare systems.
Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
31–40 of 62 posts
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#32A $220 million per shot rod of God can burrow deep. How do you maximize the value of that shot? Wiping out a city? Taking out military target? Pfft, nay.
How can you make a $200M shot free up trillions in liquidity?
You target the bunkers of billionaires and wipe out all of the blackmail they store. That'll justify the high cost per shot eaaily.
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#33I'm pretty skeptical that the energy dispersed from a tungsten rod impact would be dispersed in a manner similar to a nuclear weapon. That is to say, while they may both be just as energetic, the nuclear bomb might be dumping most of it's energy into thermal radiation while the tungsten rod, I would expect, is dumping a lot of it's energy into shattering bedrock as it burrows half a kilometer deep into the earth's cr…
> I'm pretty skeptical that the energy dispersed from a tungsten rod impact would be dispersed in a manner similar to a nuclear weapon.
You're right, it wouldn't. See below.
> the tungsten rod, I would expect, is dumping a lot of it's energy into shattering bedrock as it burrows half a kilometer deep into the earth's crust
Yes, that's the point: the expected use for these weapons is to hit hardened targets underground, so you want the energy to be concentrated, not dispersed like in a nuclear blast.
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#34lance of Longinus?
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#35"the moon is a harsh mistress"
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#36Carl Sagan argued against developing the technological methods that would be needed to defend against asteroids hitting the Earth because the methods proposed would more likely be used as weapons against the Earth.
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#37> 20 feet long, 1 foot in diameter tungsten rods I was curious about the price of this so I did some monster math (FYI complete arms layman, serious errors are likely). Raw materials: Volume is 15.7 cu ft = 444,574.5 cm3. Density is 19.3g/cm3 = 8,580 kg. Estimated price of $30.3k per metric ton [1] = $260k in tungsten. Cheap. Now for launch price. SpaceX advertises $90 million for 8 metric tons launched into low-eart…
SpaceX is trying to reduce launch costs though. The closer they get to their goal of 10 million / launch, the cheaper this thing gets.
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#38And everybody who is in space with whatever projectable presence and enough ctational power, automatically has this ability.
I never understood, how one can be panicing about nuclear profileration (nukes beeing very hard to come by devices) and at the same time cheer on space based industries. One imature hatred for a country, a person, and a accelerated aerodynamic rock- and a city vannishes.
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#39There's an economic incentive for the moon base! Since it's so expensive to bring heavy payloads up by rocket we can just mine them on the moon. It surely won't be too long until the US needs to mass-produce the godrods anyway.
From the moon, you don’t need high quality weapons; you can compensate by increasing mass. And that moon base could become independ3nt because of its ability to launch rocks ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress... )
TANSTAAFL!
Re: Air Force 'rods from god' kinetic weapon could hit with nuclear-weapon force
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
"During the Vietnam War, the US used what it called "Lazy Dog" bombs. " Sure, they got the idea from the GI Joe movies /s
Not the op, but just wanted to note various technologies in the past have been inspired by fiction: https://screenrant.com/star-trek-real-life-gadgets/ It’s a symbiotic relationship at times. Eg Computers became a thing, fiction ran with it and made up hand held tablet computers, Tricorders, universal translators etc, which materially (not always exclusively) influence future technology designs and directions. Today…
Sure. I just wanted to point out that the linked article describes similar weaponry used by the US in Vietnam, so the point about inspiration from a movie is kinda moot.