2018-10-02: Astro-Not-Ics
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2018-10-02: Astro-Not-Ics
Discussion thread for Astro-Not-Ics
- Graybeard
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Re: 2018-10-02: Astro-Not-Ics
Ah, old times ... This takes me back to when I was a "technical expert" for implementing various arms-control treaties (not this one, though).
A little more about the "rods from ghod" concept is here: https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/rods-god It was (and possibly still is) a real thing, even if not very practical, for reasons that article points out. It is not, however, a doomsday device(*), for which reason I wonder whether Tekmage/"Janis" would ever bother with it; he/she thinks big.
(*) Warning, real-world physics ahead ... The concept in that PS article was an alleged military project involving tungsten rods about the size of a telephone pole. It turns out, if you do the math based on simple Newtonian physics, that the likely energy released when one of these hits the ground, after allowing for some deceleration as it de-orbits and suffers atmospheric drag during re-entry, is equal to a few tons of TNT -- not megatons, not kilotons, just tons, around 5 or 10 depending on what assumptions you make about terminal velocity. That's plenty to ruin your day, but well short of "superweaon" class, and not really very much different from just orbiting, de-orbiting and dropping a regular, conventional bomb filled with high explosives.
It'll be interesting to see where Poe goes with this. Didn't a shadow antagonist from earlier in DNPWWO have an orbital zapper of her own? A duel between the two would be entertaining.
A little more about the "rods from ghod" concept is here: https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/rods-god It was (and possibly still is) a real thing, even if not very practical, for reasons that article points out. It is not, however, a doomsday device(*), for which reason I wonder whether Tekmage/"Janis" would ever bother with it; he/she thinks big.
(*) Warning, real-world physics ahead ... The concept in that PS article was an alleged military project involving tungsten rods about the size of a telephone pole. It turns out, if you do the math based on simple Newtonian physics, that the likely energy released when one of these hits the ground, after allowing for some deceleration as it de-orbits and suffers atmospheric drag during re-entry, is equal to a few tons of TNT -- not megatons, not kilotons, just tons, around 5 or 10 depending on what assumptions you make about terminal velocity. That's plenty to ruin your day, but well short of "superweaon" class, and not really very much different from just orbiting, de-orbiting and dropping a regular, conventional bomb filled with high explosives.
It'll be interesting to see where Poe goes with this. Didn't a shadow antagonist from earlier in DNPWWO have an orbital zapper of her own? A duel between the two would be entertaining.
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Re: 2018-10-02: Astro-Not-Ics
Doing something in a needlessly cool and over-elaborate way instead of the boring and practical one is in the finest spirit of supervillain tradition, though. Sure, you could just fire off some missiles from somewhere and that would give you more bang for your buck, but that wouldn't let you rain death from the heavens, and what self-respective supervillain passes up an opportunity to rain death from the heavens?
- dark_lord_zagato
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Re: 2018-10-02: Astro-Not-Ics
And the fact that this is apparently legal is the icing on the cake.
Weapon laws are insane. I'm not allowed to openly carry my brass knuckles in most states because it's "a threat to public safety" but if I were rich I could buy a tank. You can't drive it on the road... not because of the cannon, but because the treads will damage the road.
Weapon laws are insane. I'm not allowed to openly carry my brass knuckles in most states because it's "a threat to public safety" but if I were rich I could buy a tank. You can't drive it on the road... not because of the cannon, but because the treads will damage the road.
- Michael Poe
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Re: 2018-10-02: Astro-Not-Ics
Probably because it would be hard to make a concrete line between what counts as an "officially" tank and would just technically be industrial equipment that someone slapped armor and gun on to, that and possibly some old grandfathered in clauses about owning cannons that no one cared enough to update.dark_lord_zagato wrote:And the fact that this is apparently legal is the icing on the cake.
Weapon laws are insane. I'm not allowed to openly carry my brass knuckles in most states because it's "a threat to public safety" but if I were rich I could buy a tank. You can't drive it on the road... not because of the cannon, but because the treads will damage the road.
And sadly, I'm going any further with this story because if I did it would go pretty dark and end up with a bunch of metal rods destroying certain parts of Brussels