Space based weapon, Carrier killer? Options

[Thane36425]

Carrier killer


I think I remember mention on here about a space based weapons that could attack ground targets. Just found this article about what the Chinese claim to be up to.

[Kyoto Kid]

...like Pele's Wrath (AKA the Brimstone Focused Solar Cannon).

[Kagetenshi]

Still waiting for SOL.

~J

[Austere Emancipa...]

It's not particularly "space based" though, is it? Yes, it does pass through space, maybe even hangs around in there for a few brief moments while the target is being acquired, but I don't think that quite qualifies -- any old ICBM will spend about as long outside the atmosphere.

[Thane36425]

This reads more like it is an explosive or kinetic energy weapon. The US had been doing research on replacing nuclear warheads on ICBMs with conventional types. However, the cost was several hundred million dollars per missile. It wsn't seen as worth the cost to hit the kinds of targets cruise missiles could hit just as well, if much more slowly. Now, if we were targeting something like a carrier that costs a couple of billion dollars (and would take years to replace), plus an expensive air wing plus all that expensive crew (mostly in training and time to replace them), then a number of those missiles per carrier would certainly be worth the cost. Add to that the blow to national prestige and the shock that would cause many to give up any thought of war, due to the losses, then it would make even more sense. That is probably what the Chinese are thinking.

It would be a dangerous weapon though because there would be no way to tell if it were a nuke or not until it struck its target.

[HullBreach]

[Fix-it]

yawn. speculation. tinfoil hat crap. china won't do shit unless we really piss them off. you don't bite the hand that feeds you.

[Herald of Verjig...]

[Lindt]

Mmmm tasty.

[pbangarth]

[tisoz]

[Smiley]

[Crakkerjakk]

Meh, we get a jump on mining asteroids, the debt is gonna go bye bye. As soon as we get actually INTO space, not just skimming the lower atmosphere, we got more resources and energy than we know what to do with, really. May actually precipitate a worldwide economic crisis without some sort of intervention. How do you realistically deal with someone showing up with a crapton (as in, double the yearly production of all steel worldwide) of metals ready to be put on the market? And thats just ONE of the smaller asteroids. Not to hijackthe thread, but really. Give us 50-100 years, the world economy may be operating in a massively different way, once we start the mining boom. Especially if we can figure out fusion. Besides, I would argue that space is going to be the new naval battleground. There aren't really a whole lot of threatening water navies(besides us) left in the world anymore. And if we can drop the price of launching weapons into space, it'd be a lot more rapid deployment than a carrier group.

[Kyoto Kid]

[Ravor]

Of course Crakkerjakk the real question is whether or not America has the will or the balls for the dangers of space travel anymore, look at the way we over-reacted to the shuttle that crashed a couple of years ago, and look at the way we still ground the fleet everytime a piece of foam falls off when I've been told that it had been doing that for years.

And what ever happened to the plans for a manned mission to Mars? (One of the few things I've agreed with Shrub on after his first couple of months.)

*EDIT*

Of course, I supose that its possible that the old American spirit hasn't completely died out and is just waiting for an actual threat to wake up roaring, and if that's true then all bets are off.

But I'm not so sure...

*EDIT 2.0*

But I'm not so sure that between passing out brain affecting drugs like candy and the mind-numbing mass-media we've bombarded our children with that we haven't managed to rot the sparks of brillance right out of them.

[Kagetenshi]

They do pass out brain-affecting drugs as candy. Ever hear of caffeine?

~J

[Ravor]

Well I was thinking more along the likes of riddlan, ect, but touche'...

Ok, disclaimer time, I'm not saying that ADD doesn't exist at all and that in some rare cases riddlen, ect might not even be helpful or neeeded, but from what I've seen, the schools, teachers, and even many of my fellow parents turn to drug therapy as one of their first choices instead of last.

[Kagetenshi]

I'm not going to take a stand on that issue, because I'm way too close to the problem (severe ADHD), but one should not forget that many things considered acceptable in everyday society are nevertheless potent psychoactive substances. Caffeine and alcohol are two examples both deeply embedded in our culture.

(Incidentally, it's Ritalin, but if I'm going to be all nitpicky I might as well request that we call it methylphenidate and avoid giving free advertising when we don't need to)

~J

[Kyoto Kid]

[Crakkerjakk]

@ Ravor

I don't expect the government to pioneer this. I expect private industry to eventually realize that there are buckets of money in space. First corp to grab an asteroid turns into instant billion, maybe trillionaires.

And there are still those people with the will and balls out there. They're called engineers. And we run the world:-) And the best ones are still produced in the good ole US of A.

We should have grounded the shuttle at it's inception, when Reagan decided to cut out the space station and moon base from the shuttle/station/base plan. Problem with the space program is a) it's run by the government, which drives costs up, and b) it started as a publicity stunt.

We sold the the machinery that manufactured the saturn boosters for pennies on the pound for scrap, took the last three functional ones and turned em into lawn ornaments, and destroyed all but one set of plans, which the library of congress seems to have lost. Freakin politics is what ruined the space program, although ironically what created it.

Aside from research, I'm not sure how much the government should be involved in space anymore. But private corps competing against one another is gonna drop prices fast.

As for what happened to the manned mission to mars, it's still on track. The moon base NASA is now planning is the first step to that goal, and one of the few things NASA has done right in the last couple years.

Course, this post probably belongs in the resource rush thread, but hey. There's my .02 American Dollars.

[Kyoto Kid]

...well put. Leave it to politicians (who of course want big projects for their districts so they can get re-elected) to louse things up.

The original shuttle concept was a much leaner vehicle than the one currently in use which was 100% reusable. It's primary mission: ferry personnel and critical equipment to orbital installations (which of course were never built after Skylab lit up the sky over Australia on re entry closing yet another chapter of manned presence in space at the time).

Large bulk payloads would still have been launched with unmanned boosters.

Rockwell 1969 concept

[Moon-Hawk]

[Kyoto Kid]