Re:The reality of celebratory gunfire
by perilunar on Friday September 30, 2022 @08:07AM
(#33033787)
Low lunar orbit is a bit less than that, ~1.7 km/s. Higher than a rifle round, but a "kinetic energy penetrator" from a tank gun gets that fast [0]
Many years ago I read a short story about a gun battle on the moon where the bullets orbit the moon. Took me an hour to find it:
Men of Good Will by Ben Bova & Myron R. Lewis
Galaxy v22n05 (June 1964), p 170. [1]
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_velocity
1. https://archive.org/details/Galaxy_v22n05_1964-06_modified/p...
The escape velocity, which is 2.4 km/s on the surface of the moon, so you would need a pretty powerful gun :p