~~snip~~
> We tend to think of nuclear reaction devices as the
> ultimate weapons, of course, but imagine if you had
> one of those railgun thingees and could speed up a
> 10 kilogram steel slug to 920 kilometers per second.
> OK, I know that's really fast, but in a vacuum with lots
> of energy on hand (about 1200 gigawatt-hours) and
> a long enough railgun, all possible in orbit somewhere,
> why not?
>
~~snip~~
Anyone remember that old Heinlein book, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress? When the
Lunar colonies were trying to gain independence from Earth, they started
shelling Earth with the rail guns they had previously used for delivering
Moon-grown grain. Previously, the grain barges were inserted into LEO for
relatively gentle splashdown or orbital retrieval; once the engineers got PO'd,
they started aiming them more directly. They made some impressive divots, as I
recall. Even though it's fiction, the physics are still sound.
Best!
Tracy Latimer
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