Okay, it's not a planet-smashing superlaser manned by crews of dudes in snappy-looking uniforms, but it's still a cannon of a sort, and it's on a space station, which rates mondo cool points.
And it's on the Japanese module, which means it might have some hidden secret backup Gundam-defence mode, no doubt activated by moving the aiming joystick L-R-L-U-U-D-D-L while holding down the A and B buttons simultaneously.
(H/T to Random Nuclear Strikes.)
Using it to fire tungsten darts at the surface using laser guidance (like Footfall) would be quite effective.
ReplyDeleteA 10cm tungsten cube would weigh about 16 kg. The ISS is moving at about 7km/sec. The gravitational pull of the earth will add about 3km/sec to that.
So, a 15kg cube moving at 10km/sec....carry the two... 6.75 gigajoules.
That is the equivalent of 1.6 tons of TNT, just in pure kinetic energy.
I read somewhere that a tungsten "dart" about the size of a telephone pole would be similar in yield to a tactical nuke.
DeleteThe force created by velocity is just jaw dropping.
UUDDLRLR B A Start
ReplyDeleteOf course there are dozens of other variations depending on what cool stuff you want.
AAAND there's a wikipedia page...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code
I'll be there if you need me.
Dang, Divemedic beat me to it. So I'll just add the obligatory: What caliber tungsten dart for Washington DC?
ReplyDeletejf
Of course when the whole damn module morphs into a giant robot and starts using the ISS as a baseball bat, there's gonna be international hell to pay. Can Japanese astronauts resist the temptation? I certainly wouldn't try.
ReplyDeleteBesides, proper mecha pilots are either:
ReplyDelete1) Masked blond men with a mysterious past*
or
2) Agnsty teenage kids with blue hair
*Red mechs only.
"But wait, you say, what happened to the no weapons in space thing?"
ReplyDeleteIt was always a quaint lie that the Soviets, especially, completely ignored.
(The Soyuz capsules had a farkin' 23mm Autocannon.)
Well, there's stil some crapping going on, and it could easily be placed in somes square cartons and targeted to DC. Even if it burned up on re entry it would be a fine gift for washington pols.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tam, now I can't get the image of confused astronauts/cosmonauts hearing this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny24zPeQLks) blaring from the Japanese module out of my mind.
ReplyDelete**It was always a quaint lie that the Soviets, especially, completely ignored.**
ReplyDeleteNo lie needed. There never was any treaty, agreement, understanding, or principle that prohibits weapons in space. The is a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons in space, but that isn't the sort of weapon we are talking about.
And it was the Almaz space station with the 23mm. Soyuz does fly with a survival pistol on board.
American astronauts are armed with sporks.
The International Space Battle Station.
ReplyDelete