Re: Striking a Lunar target in the near future...

From: Derek Lyons (fairwater_at_gmail.com)
Date: 08/19/04 

Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 07:30:15 GMT

henry@spsystems.net (Henry Spencer) wrote:

>In article <4126e2e5.3539314@supernews.seanet.com>,
>Derek Lyons <fairwater@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Given that current nukes end up in free fall while in a ballistic
>>trajectory, and encounter some frightful G's at the start and end of
>>that trajectory, I cannot see a problem with the basic space
>>enviroment.
>
>Some of the materials may not be rated for *prolonged* vacuum exposure,
>and similarly, temperature control may be an issue for several days of
>cruise in open space (which is generally a colder environment than
>near-Earth space). If you were in a hurry and didn't want to fiddle with
>requalification procedures, the obvious thing to do is to put the warhead
>in a pressurized outer can with whatever insulation and surface coatings
>seem appropriate. (You might or might not need to open the can up just
>before arrival, depending on fuzing issues.)

It would seem a simple matter to put the sensors outside the can,
connected to the weapon inside the can, the sensors can largely be
built from available space qualified components. No need to fiddle
with the complexity of opening the can right before arrival.

It also occured to me that it might be interesting to use a crasher
stage to slow down the arriving ordinance a tad for the final
targeting and course correction.

D. 

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