Re: OT: Guns in Space

In article <d9etv29s5kossd095jf52prfeugi1kbemk@xxxxxxx>,
myrealaddress@xxxxxxxxx says...
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:05:56 -0700, MassiveProng
<MassiveProng@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:01:00 -0700, "Paul Hovnanian P.E."
<paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Gave us:

Again, due to orbital velocities, you'd have to pull alongside the
target, more or less.


Park a car in front of a train, and the damage is pretty severe.

Park a mass in front of an orbiting object, and the kinetic energy
upon impact is pretty severe.

The total impact velocity is all that matters. Both elements do not
need to be moving relative to each other, only one does.

Keeping a stationary object in a near earth location is another
problem.

A problem everywhere?
IIRC tv satellites are parked about the equator... This is why dishes
point southish in Canada.

GeoSync satellites move too. Their orbital period just happens to be
24 hours, the same as the Earth's rotation.

Also...I'll have to google if GPS satellites move.

They're not in geosync orbit.

A hunter satellite (space gun) can move to fire for a line of site
attack on these satellites.

No, the bullet would also be a satellite in orbit. You don't shoot
an orbiting satellite with another with "straight" lines. You have
to shoot the bullet into an intersecting orbit.

Or..

As someone posted, it could drop shrapnel on an orbit (over the poles)
to intercept an equator satellite..

That's going to be a small target (with a LOT of Delta-V). BTW,
"dropping" shrapnel on an orbit implies inserting it into that orbit
with the Delta-V that implies.

Come to think of it...Probably be better to have a guided missile just
zoom around and around. It'll just need to make minor course
corrections until it finally collides.. Could be many revolutions.

Random orbits? Sounds messy. Remember, the point is to not shoot
yourself. ;-)

A patriot missile that takes forever to hit it's target. But doesn't
constantly burn fuel. Only jets to make a course correction when it's
guidance system keeps missing it's target.. It'll get closer and
closer until near enough for detonation.

Any atmospheric missile will constantly burn fuel (that friction
thing). It may have steering jets that fire intermittently though.

--
Keith
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: OT: Guns in Space
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