News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Systems and Cost Analysis for Nuclear Subterrene Tunneling Machine (1973) [pdf].

Re:Systems and Cost Analysis for Nuclear Subterrene Tunnelin... by CSMastermind on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @01:55PM (#32740612)
Skeptoid recently covered this topic in the context of the conspiracy theory that the soviets were weaponizing such technology: https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4845
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Systems and Cost Analysis for Nuclear Subterrene Tunnelin... by gene-h on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @03:13PM (#32741828)
The soviets did something of almost the same level of sanity, they used rockets to dig holes rapidly.[0]

An underground rocket is basically a specialized rocket nozzle pointed straight at the ground, the hot fast moving exhaust gases are able to excavate soil and rock. Speed up to 100 m/s through soil and 5 m/s through solid rock have been claimed. Here's a video of a missile being repurposed to do this[1].

I've read, although I forget where, that there were concerns the soviets could use this technique to quickly place a nuclear weapon under west germany as part of a nuclear first strike. I suspect these concerns were quite short lived

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_rocket [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7_tRmSIIEo

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Systems and Cost Analysis for Nuclear Subterrene Tunnelin... by ceejayoz on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @03:51PM (#32742346)
Same engineers that designed the firefighting tank with two MiG engines?

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15138374/stilling-the...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Systems and Cost Analysis for Nuclear Subterrene Tunnelin... by wcoenen on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @05:32PM (#32743473)
> 100 m/s through soil and 5 m/s through solid rock

The Wikipedia article says meter/minute where it mentions those numbers, not meter/second.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Systems and Cost Analysis for Nuclear Subterrene Tunnelin... by anthonygarcia21 on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @07:40PM (#32744588)
Looks like they stuck a conical diverter onto the exhaust end of a solid-fuel Grad artillery rocket.
[ Parent | on HN ]