Re:Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Movin...
by isostatic on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:28PM
(#18504828)
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
I was thinking how Musk could do that. Launch some tungstan rods into a highly eliptical orbit, small thruster + control pack on them to adjust their orbit when required. When it's out at say 300,000k+ fire the engine for a few seconds, adjusting the orbit so it will crash into the chosen target a few days from now. The high apogee means not a lot of power to change orbit to collision, and almost impossible to detect. It would likely appear to be an asteroid hit.
Re:Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Movin...
by ben_w on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:13PM
(#18505180)
I’ve looked at this idea myself. At current cost per kg to LEO launch and kW/kg solar, even if you could totally ignore reaction mass (I dunno, invent a ramscoop for van Allen belts or something), it only becomes cost competitive with dynamite after a few years.
Re:Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Movin...
by DuskStar on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @05:34PM
(#18506649)
Dynamite doesn't come with a delivery mechanism though, which might change the equation a little.
Re:Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Movin...
by rripken on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:05PM
(#18505110)
You may like Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".
Re:Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Movin...
by patrickg_zill on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:04PM
(#18505105)
It's rumored that the US military has a "Rod of God" satellite. No way to confirm its existence of course.
"Excellent... when do they hit?"
"According to our calculations... ohhh about 6 weeks from now"