From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Date: Wed Jan 01 1997 - 19:44:12 MST
Mark Grant wrote:
>
> On Sat, 28 Dec 1996, Michael Lorrey wrote:
>
> > nobody on earth would be in a strategic position to tell anyone on the
> > moon what to do, as such devices would be the ultimate in artillery
> > weaponry in a position of tactical superiority over the entire earth.
>
> This seems to be a regular topic on rec.arts.sf.science -- general
> consensus seems to be that they're not particularly useful for attacking
> Earth (e.g. because small rocks will detonate at high altitude with little
> or no effect on the ground -- see the reports of nuclear weapon detection
> sattelites picking up hundreds of kiloton-range high-altitude detonations
> of incoming meteorites with no damage at ground level), and that the lunar
> base will be an easy target to destroy. Sorry...
>
not at all, it simply proves my thesis that people will beleive anything
in order to ignore a threat.
in the case of high altitude explosions, the consensus is that such
explosions are a result of carbonacious chrondrite and or cometary ice
fragments (they are made of quite volatile stuff). normal ferrous rocks
(which would be the rock of choice for lunar rail guns) would be able to
penetrate the atmosphere. A one ton ferrous rock launched from the moon
will impact on Earth with the equivalent of approximately 10 kilotons of
explosive energy.
Additionally, being on the moon gives one a first strike advantage. you
can see the other guy coming 239,000 miles away, and have plenty of time
(two to three days) to get enough rocks in flight to pulverize the
entire planet before your own launcher gets taken out. Additionally,
remember, terran nations would need Saturn V like launching capability
to do anything feasible in a lunar attack, and if the corporation
developing the moon controls the best launch capability, terran nations
would be in a serious conundrum. It seems that the US is bowing out of
the launch business, as a government operation. Unless we start seeing
serious development in the next 5-10 years by NASA or the Air Force on
serious interplanetary capability, the US government will be bowing out
of the Super Power business within 50 years.
Lunar construction also lends itself to bomb proofing. As a lunar
habitat would need to be protected from the hardest radiation, it would
neccessarily be at least 6 feet under the lunar soil or rock surface.
Any inhabitable space would be an automatic bomb shelter. So even if the
Earth takes out your gun, you still have the rest of your infrastructure
and population. The Earth population, living in a society ignorant of
the concept of civil defense, would suffer great losses. In this
scenario, Mutual Assured Destruction would not be a viable strategem of
political gamesmanship.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
President retroman@tpk.net
Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com
Website: http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/
Now Featuring:
My Own Nuclear Espionage Agency (MONEA)
http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/MONEA1.htm
MIKEYMAS(tm): The New Internet Holiday
http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/mikymas1.htm
Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH)
http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/TRANSHNH.htm
------------------------------------------------------------
Transhumanist, Inventor, Webmaster, Ski Guide, Entrepreneur,
Artist, Outdoorsman, Libertarian, Certified Genius.
------------------------------------------------------------
If I saw further than others, it is because I had an
unjoggled view from standing on my own two feet.
- Mike Lorrey
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:43:56 MST