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 07:34:42 GMT

henry@spsystems.net (Henry Spencer) wrote:

>In article <4123e2f0$0$2893$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net>,
>Ian Stirling <root@mauve.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>This would imply that contact fusing, even at 10Km/s or so impact speeds
>>is quite possible, as long as you have a few dozen cm of clearance.
>
>There are indeed reported to be contact fuzes in at least some
>ballistic-missile warheads -- when fine wires in the nose of that long,
>pointy reentry vehicle start to break, the bomb back in the thick tail is
>triggered -- although they may not be the only fuzes present.

There are multiple fuzing options. 'nuff said.

>The problem with a target on the Moon is that unless it absolutely has to
>be on the surface for some reason (antennas?), an awfully obvious way
>to protect it against temperature extremes, micrometeorites, radiation,
>and missile attacks :-) is to shovel a couple of meters of dirt over it.
>That makes X-ray-based attacks rather iffy, especially if you aren't
>confident of a direct hit. (Bear in mind that the only *precision*
>lunar landing capability ever demonstrated involved starting from lunar
>orbit, not going straight in.)

Which is why I was thinking of a carrier vehicle that had active
guidance and was actively tracked and course corrected all the way
down. (Something that, while it has never been done before, is rather
straightforward and simple in theory.)

D. 

-- 
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