Militarizing Space
Ah, one of my favorite topics!
At Winds of Change, we find a link to some interesting new developments in the militarizatin of Space.
Our dominance on the battlefield is generated partly through precision munitions, guided by GPS sattelites. Should those satellites be at risk, we get "dumbed down" significantly.
But our current dominance of Space provides us with a whole new dimension of capabilities.
SUMO is a program to develope a robot to grab and tow for repair a friendly satellite. Some point out this capability could easily be used to grab and toss out of orbit a hostile satellite.
More is here and here.
One key point is if our satellites are threatened, we need a quick and inexpensive way to put new ones back up there. Relying on the creaky, dangerous, barely-flightworthy manned Space Shuttle "fleet" is obviously a huge mistake.
One "out there" idea I've heard spoken of, that probably could work, involves a gian rail gun that uses electricity to accelerate a projectile to enormous speeds.
Build your own!
The Navy is interested in using them on its new "all electric" ships being designed. Besides using the great electric generators to power a wavelength-tuned Free Electron Laser for missile defense, the electricity could be harnessed to launch a projectile with devastating effect.
But I digress.
Wouldn't it be neat to have a huge rail gun in, say, Florida near the Equator, where it could launch GPS-guided bombs into suborbit, to strike nearly anywhere on Earth with precision in a short amount of time? No more need for slow, expensive bombers!
More modest proposals will begin using gps-guided rail-gun-delivered projectiles as long-range artillery.
At Winds of Change, we find a link to some interesting new developments in the militarizatin of Space.
Our dominance on the battlefield is generated partly through precision munitions, guided by GPS sattelites. Should those satellites be at risk, we get "dumbed down" significantly.
But our current dominance of Space provides us with a whole new dimension of capabilities.
SUMO is a program to develope a robot to grab and tow for repair a friendly satellite. Some point out this capability could easily be used to grab and toss out of orbit a hostile satellite.
More is here and here.
One key point is if our satellites are threatened, we need a quick and inexpensive way to put new ones back up there. Relying on the creaky, dangerous, barely-flightworthy manned Space Shuttle "fleet" is obviously a huge mistake.
One "out there" idea I've heard spoken of, that probably could work, involves a gian rail gun that uses electricity to accelerate a projectile to enormous speeds.
Build your own!
The Navy is interested in using them on its new "all electric" ships being designed. Besides using the great electric generators to power a wavelength-tuned Free Electron Laser for missile defense, the electricity could be harnessed to launch a projectile with devastating effect.
But I digress.
Wouldn't it be neat to have a huge rail gun in, say, Florida near the Equator, where it could launch GPS-guided bombs into suborbit, to strike nearly anywhere on Earth with precision in a short amount of time? No more need for slow, expensive bombers!
More modest proposals will begin using gps-guided rail-gun-delivered projectiles as long-range artillery.
posted by RDS at 1:24 PM
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