robo space plane back on earth after 7 months in space... what it was doing up there is secret....Weapons platform in space Id guess , the X-37B landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where it was met with Air Force personnel in SCAPE suits (self-contained atmospheric protective ensemble). They gave the robo-orbiter an initial once-over — and made sure the area was safe for humans, too.
Honestly the whole space laser stuff is too sci fi and pointless. Kinetic orbital weapons are where it's at Load up some giant tungsten rods in a structure, and by the time they hit the earth they'll have the kinetic force needed to create massive explosions.
I agree, but what they should really do and have a bunch of astronauts with BB guns. Load them with a very very very very durable BB pellet and then just fire randomly. Granted not as big of a bang but its more cost efficient and deliciously absurd.
Kinetic weapons would not work from space as they would burn up in atmosphere unless they were MASSIVE. Which would mean 1 shot and the weapons platform is useless since the reverse kinetic force would push the platform out of position. The atmosphere is less thick in some places than others, and is being depleted/repaired all the time, which means you cant calculate burn amount and size the "bullet" to do a proper amount of damage. You are likely to either do absolutely nothing because the large bullet burned up too much, or a huge amount of damage from the force of the impact on an object just slightly too large. Supposedly, there are 3 nuclear powered satellites in space that power a single shot laser weapon. The nuclear explosion powering said laser consumes the satellite within a second but the power the laser has in that split second is enough to destroy a missile it is targeting. It is a single use nuclear defense "weapon" in case the US is about to be hit by a nuclear ICBM. Basically to protect the president or something like that. Another weapon you could use from space is like the weapon in 007: Goldeneye. It actually does work to detonate a nuclear device in the high upper atmosphere to create an EM pulse and knock out electronics on the ground. Sure it was in a movie, but it is entirely possible to do.
So use something which doesn't burn up in the atmosphere. Like tungsten, which I said. It has the highest melting point of any non-alloy metal and can take 2x what a space shuttle suffers in re-entry.
maybe it was carrying one of these Jolie O'Dell About 1 day ago Jolie O'Dell 26 U.S. Navy’s Record-Breaking Electromagnetic Railgun Shoots Projectiles at Mach 7 This image shows the Navy's electromagnetic railgun firing a projectile, the black square, at a world-record setting 33 megajoules. The gun will allow the Navy to strike from more than 100 miles away. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ul_gun_on_the_planet_video.html#ixzz17wOJYQ7M
I worked on the space shuttle external tank..making the heat shield tiles to be used for the bottom of the tank. Protect it from the solid boosters. these tiles have a similar color and sheen.. I cant imagine how advanced these tiles must be 30 years later
But a space shuttle does not get fired at any random angle for re-entry to Earth. It has a very specific re-entry angle that if too shallow will make you skip off the Earth's atmosphere and too steep will cause the shuttle to burn up. To use any sort of weapon with mass that fires a projectile into the Earth to hit a target from space would require that you first align the weapon properly to get the angle right for re-entry, then line it up in space where it needs to be to hit the target on Earth while calculating rotation speed and wind speeds throughout the whole flight path. And lets not forget gravity calculations as the gravity is not in space and needs to be accounted for upon its re-entry to Earth. Basically it would take a long time to calculate it all and get into position only to need updated wind conditions once in position and have to make a small adjustment to get it back on track, and hope conditioning dont change during projectile travel, or that the target moves. The only way you could hit anything reliably from the distance you are talking about from a space based weapon is a MASSIVELY powerful railgun that could launch the projectile many thousands of miles per hour and be of sufficient density to not be affected by atmospheric density and weather conditions, or use a light based weapon with no mass so all calculations like that are unnecessary.
When I mean this will probably be a weapons platform..I meant for warfare in space. to hit enemy satellites and their weapons systems. China has already destroyed a satellite in space. The trajectory calculations would not be hard for a computer..we already have a 50 cal round that adjusts while in flight to changing wind and temperature and humidity and the targets speed. made by darpa..called the one shot program That 50 cal will be in use in the next year..if not in secret already.
As I was reading the thread I was tihnking all about Rail Guns then doc posts about one. Rail Gun FTW! Things are freaking brutal and destructive.
