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Rail guns: the future?

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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zumwalt_class_destroyer

This is a link to the zumwalt class destroyer, currently being designed by the us navy to be equipped with a rail gun. The rail gun prototype currently working can fire 220 miles and requires 32 Mega-joules of electrical energy.

So, my though was:

given the nature of a rail gun (a projectile propelled by incredibly strong alternating electromagnets), would these one day be used in space warfare?

Discuss.
Aug 18 2010 12:54AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
That would be it's most practical application. I still think the species is going to fuck itself over before we make it to space (in a habitable sense)
Aug 18 2010 12:56AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Thats a logical argument

Heres another though: orbital bombardment through satellites with rail guns.
Aug 18 2010 12:57AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/rods-god

read this
Aug 18 2010 1:00AM
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Scott0_robot0
Posts: 3291 - Karma: 212
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such a fun game especially the rail gun or farsight i think they called it.
Aug 18 2010 1:01AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Thats pretty much what i had in mind. Tungsten shells are awesome.
Aug 18 2010 1:01AM
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Broseph_Stalin
Posts: 3745 - Karma: 178
Heres a similie/metephore...

its similar to the sw 10 and the double cork and now the trippleflip.

people are going to be so afriad of them because they think that they will ruin everything but in the end its all about progression. ya dig?


Aug 18 2010 1:03AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Good comparison. either way though the progression of military technology is a lot more frightening.
Aug 18 2010 1:05AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
Triples are pretty damn scary though.
Aug 18 2010 1:07AM
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Broseph_Stalin
Posts: 3745 - Karma: 178
ha yeah i know good point.
Aug 18 2010 1:07AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
Just imagine what it would be like to see one of those in action. Just a city there one minute, and then dust and a deep ass skinny (not perfectly shaped like the rod but you know what I mean) crater there the next.
Aug 18 2010 1:08AM
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Holte
Posts: 10740 - Karma: 7,814
All the countries who have ever had space programs have signed multiple treaties prohibiting the installation of weapons in space.

I'm not saying that treaties are never broken, just saying there are currently a lot of extremely serious political ramifications that come with militarizing space.
Aug 18 2010 1:08AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Maybe but so are hydrogen bombs and daisy cutters.
Aug 18 2010 1:08AM
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Mooserz
Posts: 2945 - Karma: 32
Best for fighting the miner rebellion on mars

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Aug 18 2010 1:09AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
I don't think that stops us from developing stuff, just putting it up there.
Aug 18 2010 1:12AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Im guessing for red faction?
Aug 18 2010 1:12AM
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hanksy
Posts: 659 - Karma: 265
This makes me feel just slightly better
Aug 18 2010 1:13AM
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BLUMPKING
Posts: 632 - Karma: 10
who gives a shit. war is stupid. that is all.
Aug 18 2010 1:13AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
its the same with nuclear weapons as well...
Aug 18 2010 1:14AM
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Brock.
Posts: 5698 - Karma: 1,332
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I hope they bring it back in Reach...
Aug 18 2010 1:16AM
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p-fo
Posts: 9372 - Karma: 6,155
theres a treaty to prevent that. space is supposed to be a dmz basically. 220 miles though... holy fuck!
Aug 18 2010 1:17AM
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infedel_one
Posts: 5140 - Karma: 444
haha wooorrrdd late night talkin. i say it fucks people up big time and someone gets blown up
Aug 18 2010 1:18AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
The speed is pretty ridiculous too, although im not quite sure what it was.
Aug 18 2010 1:19AM
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carboard_SOUP
Posts: 151 - Karma: 14
Terrorist group + Satellite weapon thing = were fucked
Aug 18 2010 1:19AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Pretty much. Unfortunately, Pakistan has nuclear weapons so if they lose to the Taliban we are totally fucked as well.
Aug 18 2010 1:20AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
that one wasn't so much out of fear of militarizing space as it was from the fear of a problem with space weapons.

Ever seen space cowboys? That sort of thing.

They were afraid of wars unintentionally being started due to malfunctioning equipment, or having problems with the weapons in space, which leads to nothing good. If a satellite covered in nukes fails, and starts to drop out of orbit...you are going to have a lot of problems.

overall, as much as they want to put weapons up there, for the time being, it's just not worth the risk.
Aug 18 2010 1:23AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Space cowboys was on amc but i didnt record it. I will make a note to watch that.

What about the moon?
Aug 18 2010 1:26AM
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DJohnson
Posts: 444 - Karma: 11
ya that would deffinately bad for us
Aug 18 2010 1:26AM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
i really still don't understand how railguns work
Aug 18 2010 1:28AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
the moon is basically impractical in every sense of the word for humans. We can do research there, maybe figure out a bit about what our planet is composed of and how it came to be, but otherwise....it's desolate nothingness.

the odds that anyone ever fights over the moon are probably minimal. And mounting weapons on it is horribly stupid. Going something like 25,000 miles an hour it still took a rocket days to reach earth from the moon. Imagine having days to detect, and shoot down a missile...
Aug 18 2010 1:33AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
How exactly do you propose shooting down a missile in space? I mean, its pretty hard as is...
Aug 18 2010 1:34AM
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Elmo.
Posts: 4317 - Karma: 663
hahahah i totally agree with that statement but this is a cool concept if you think about it
Aug 18 2010 1:34AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
whole variety of ways...

shoot another missile at it. Not easy, but feasible. And if you miss, you have a larger window to fire another. And another. And keep in mind you don't need to score a direct hit. If you can detonate it in the path of the incoming missile, the debris should be enough to alter the course or even destroy it.

Bunch up satellites already in orbit that have their own means of propulsion to get in the way.


Aug 18 2010 1:45AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
True, but if we are talking about a tungsten shell just debris probably wont work.
Aug 18 2010 1:47AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
Tungsten as in, armor piercing round tungsten shell?

if that's the case, then yea, wherever that thing is headed is fucked. But why would you armor pierce a missile? There'd be no need for it.

and ok, simple solution.

China launches nuke at US from the moon, it'll hit DC in 2 days. Evacuate DC/surrounding areas, and retaliate. By the time that missile is close to hitting, china will be called "asia's radioactive dump formerly known as china."
Aug 18 2010 1:51AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Tungsten as in high density alloy, not armor piercing. It creates such a large impact it obliterates everything.

And that assumes prior knowledge of incoming missiles.
Aug 18 2010 1:54AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
ah ok. well in that case....super fucked. not sure how you can stop that exactly. With that, you'd most likely have to get the direct hit to stop it.

and spotting a launch wouldn't be too difficult. If it was a big launch, you could probably even see it with a telescope. And if someone has nukes on the moon, unless they miraculously did it secretly, someone would be watching those bases up there at all times, so a launch would be spotted. And NASA is constantly taking pictures up there. I'm sure somehow it would be realized.

or they could do like with the old apollo rockets. The rocket would need to be controlled in some way, and that would most likely give off some sort of signal. Radio signals perhaps, or something in that nature. So to detect it, you just point satellite dishes towards the moon or wherever you think it could be coming from, and if you detect something out of the ordinary...now you know.
Aug 18 2010 2:00AM
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SCOO-WOOP
Posts: 1264 - Karma: 244
Not really. More just Washington D.C. Seeing as we've put all of our political eggs in one basket.
Aug 18 2010 2:02AM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
a strike on D.C. would fuck a lot of shit up, not just D.C.
Aug 18 2010 2:02AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
it's impossible to destroy the us government in 1 swoop except for furing 1 event every year.

take a guess what event that is...
Aug 18 2010 2:03AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
that should be during one event.
Aug 18 2010 2:03AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Every year rules out inauguration...

State of the union?
Aug 18 2010 2:04AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
yes. riskiest time for the US government. Every important person is in one place, at one time. I believe it's the only publicized time that the president, vice president, and speaker of the house are all known to be in the same place. they may meet other times, but always secretly.
Aug 18 2010 2:10AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
So thats when we stage a coup? sounds like a plan. ha.
Aug 18 2010 2:10AM
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Mooserz
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Aug 18 2010 2:43AM
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kootenayklaus
Posts: 3914 - Karma: 2,179
A new soviet russia will arise from the invention of the rail gun.
Aug 18 2010 2:47AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
What makes you think that?
Aug 18 2010 2:48AM
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DJohnson
Posts: 444 - Karma: 11
what?
Aug 18 2010 2:48AM
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1337
Posts: 31054 - Karma: 29,234
Magnets you say?
Aug 18 2010 2:52AM
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1337
Posts: 31054 - Karma: 29,234
pic related

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Aug 18 2010 2:54AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Not just magnets, electro-magnets.
Aug 18 2010 2:54AM
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