Comments on: Navy Test Fires 10 Megajoule Railgun (Holy Cow)

By: useddiggerderrick

useddiggerderrick — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:25:36 +0000

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

By: Rich Norgren

Rich Norgren — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:52:15 +0000

The images of the railgun with flames in them following the projectile are not what they have been claimed. These are shots from a conventional gun being used to develop the best ballistic shape for the railgun round. There are many videos of the projectiles being placed in their polymer sabots in pre-fire condition. The gun itself will need a sabot that will withstand the friction of moving beyond Mach 7. Polymer is not capable of retaining its shape at that velocity, friction will inherently cause it liquify and reduce velocity. Many have also wondered why go to a railgun platform? In combat you are also being shot at so you need to reduce the amount of volatile material you carry aboard ship. The most volatile substance aboard ship is the propellant stored in the magazines to fire the guns, rockets and missiles. Every amount you can remove from the ship makes it less likely to have a repeat of the HMS Hood.

By: Rich Norgren

Rich Norgren — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:52:15 +0000

By: scritcher

scritcher — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:49:25 +0000

Use for orbital resupply has merit; some. It could not be used for electronics in most forms nor machinery; remember too that whatever you shoot has to survive unbelievable G forces when its accelerated in addition to the stresses and electrical issues from the magnetic fields. …But you could shoot strong cans filled with commodities and robust machine bits. So pick an orbit where a UOV can retrieve the cans and bring them to the station easily and use the gun to fill that orbit with cans of hydrogen, oxygen, some foods, a few parts well packed and some experiments or their supplies could be packed in too; stuff that can survive the trip. Then have the UOV shuttle them from that orbit to the station. Maybe if the cans could be made to survive multiple shots and re-entries they could be reused too. As cool as it sounds to do this it might not be the best choice though: A large (and very long barreled) cold-gas gun could launch cheaper cans of equal or greater internal volume and do it while imparting less G-forces on the payload as well as little in the way of magnetic issues. – With either gun, another consideration would be to send tough big simple Tinker-toys or Legos, to use as base structure for more space station, instead of building uber-light-weight, super-engineered, fold-up, multi-functional trusses and structures. Send all kinds of cheap dumb bits up in these big bullets and only use expensive launch technology for the habitats, gear and people. …Then use all that stuff to just build the damned space elevator.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:55:51 +0000

Of course, the obvious answer to the megajoules question is that it’s meant to be a more powerful armor piercing projectile. What good is an armored bunker if your adversary has one of these? You may be able to run, but there’s no such thing as hiding behind steel and concrete.

By: EdoReloaded

EdoReloaded — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:38:15 +0000

Guys, ok, no satellites… but what about other stuff to send, let’s say, to a space station? Or to the moon or mars… I mean, most of the times, we need to send other goods along with missions, satellites and space stations (not only electronic equipment). This could be a cheap way to reduce costs of rockets, by reducing the quantity of material that needs to be sent “up”…

(ok, the military, as anyone could expect, need funds and are presenting this with this objective, but still, it could be used for many other things…. ).

Let’s wait this 15-20 years and see…… (buahhaahaha)

By: Someguy

Someguy — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:02:17 +0000

Thank you srilyk, thats what I was talking about. That’s why I didn’t think a rail gun would work for that kind of thing.

By: srilyk

srilyk — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:16:33 +0000

The problem with using this for satellites is the fact that – oh, it uses a /phenomenal/ amount of electromagnetism. And class, what happens when you create a huge (E)lectro(M)agnetic(P)ulse around electronic equipment?

Ooops.

By: SailingJim

SailingJim — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:51:45 +0000

This is fantastic and not just for use with weapon systems. If they are able to achieve 13K mph in the future, escape velocity ( about 18K mph) could be next. This could be a boon for satilites

By: Yocto

Yocto — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:29:26 +0000

to 2nd Anonymous: I don’t know, either way, it’s a highly specialized technology, and I just don’t find it very promising (and so far, it’s just that, a promise for future technology) in actual combat, when compared to already existing (and already paid for) weapon systems.