| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| The Air Force's 'rods from god' could hit with the force a nuclear weapon ‐ but with no fallout |
| 2017-09-09 |
During the Vietnam War, the US used what it called "Lazy Dog" bombs. These were simply solid steel pieces, less than 2 inches long, fitted with fins. There was no explosive — they were simply dropped by the hundreds from planes flying above Vietnam. Lazy Dog projectiles (aka "kinetic bombardment") could reach speeds of up to 500 mph as they fell to the ground and could penetrate 9 inches of concrete after being dropped from as little as 3,000 feet. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #12 Skidmark: Hole. Digging. Stop. |
| Posted by: Hupomosh Schwarzeneggar6560 2017-09-09 23:28 |
| #11 Spinners |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-09-09 18:55 |
| #10 Many centrafuge |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-09-09 18:54 |
| #9 Centrafuges |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-09-09 18:54 |
| #8 Unless of course they hit a bank of centrafugi. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-09-09 18:53 |
| #7 There will definitely be fallout. It just won't be radioactive |
| Posted by: DonM 2017-09-09 13:35 |
| #6 Note that 100 Earths would fit inside Uranus. 101 if you relax |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-09-09 12:05 |
| #5 Solar System objects by size at this link I prefer the 3km diameter near-earth asteroids. Earth impact effects calculator at this link |
| Posted by: 3dc 2017-09-09 11:25 |
| #4 Did we have an article recently about use of cast iron spikes dropped by both sides in WWI? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2017-09-09 09:40 |
| #3 ...Not exactly. 'Lazy Dog' is another name for a flechette (in this case a slightly larger one), and they will NOT, repeat NOT go through 9 inches of concrete. They will thoroughly fu@k up any human/animal they hit, but that's it. The 'rod from god' is a great theoretical idea, but we're actually talking about a piece of tungsten the size of a telephone pole in order to do any significant damage - and we're talking about a LOT of them to take out a city. In terms of a precision weapon to take out a single fortified/buried site, they have some promise, but the cost and complexity of getting them in orbit has so far been the main (and possibly permanent) stumbling block. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2017-09-09 09:22 |
| #2 Looks like the launch industry could be gearing up for this. From Wikipedia, As early as August 2014, media sources noted that the US launch market may have two competitive super-heavy launch vehicles available in the 2020s to launch payloads of 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) or more to low-Earth orbit. The US government is currently developing the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift launch vehicle for lifting very large payloads of 70 to 130 tonnes (150,000 to 290,000 lb) from Earth. On the commercial side, SpaceX is privately developing the Interplanetary Transport System, which is being designed to lift a 300 tonnes (660,000 lb) payload to Earth orbit in reusable mode, or 550 tonnes (1,210,000 lb) in expendable mode. SpaceX has played down the competitive aspect with SLS. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2017-09-09 01:12 |
| #1 1/2 em vee squared for the win, bitches! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2017-09-09 01:00 |