Kinetic bombardment
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A kinetic bombardment is the act of attacking a planetary surface with an inert projectile, where the destructive force comes from the kinetic energy of the projectile impacting at very high velocities. The concept is encountered in science fiction and is thought to have originated during the Cold War.
Real life concepts and theories
Project Thor is an idea for a weapons system that launches kinetic projectiles from Earth's orbit to damage targets on the ground. Jerry Pournelle originated the concept while working in operations research at Boeing in the 1950s before becoming a science-fiction writer.[1][2]
The system most often described is "an orbiting tungsten telephone pole with small fins and a computer in the back for guidance".[citation needed] The system described in the 2003 United States Air Force (USAF) report was that of 20-foot-long (6.1 m), 1-foot-diameter (0.30 m) tungsten rods, that are satellite controlled, and have global strike capability, with impact speeds of Mach 10.[3][4][5]
The time between deorbiting and impact would only be a few minutes, and depending on the orbits and positions in the orbits, the system would have a world-wide range. There is no requirement to deploy missiles, aircraft or other vehicles. Although the SALT II (1979) prohibited the deployment of orbital weapons of mass destruction, it did not prohibit the deployment of conventional weapons. The system is prohibited by neither the Outer Space Treaty nor the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.[4][6]
The idea is that the weapon would inflict damage because it moves at orbital velocities, at least 9 kilometers per second. Smaller weapons can deliver measured amounts of energy as small as a 225 kg conventional bomb.[citation needed] Some systems are quoted as having the yield of a small tactical nuclear bomb.[5] These designs are envisioned as a bunker buster.[4][7]
In the case of the system mentioned in the 2003 USAF report above, a 6.1 m × 0.3 m tungsten cylinder impacting at Mach 10 has a kinetic energy equivalent to approximately 11.5 tons of TNT (or 7.2 tons of dynamite). The mass of such a cylinder is itself greater than 9 tons, so it is clear that the practical applications of such a system are limited to those situations where its other characteristics provide a decisive advantage - a conventional bomb/warhead of similar weight to the tungsten rod, delivered by conventional means, provides similar destructive capability and is a far more practical method. Some other sources suggest a speed of 36,000 ft/s (11,000 m/s),[8] which for the aforementioned rod would amount to a kinetic energy equivalent to 120 tons of TNT or 0.12 kt. With 6-8 satellites on a given orbit, a target could be hit within 12–15 minutes from any given time, less than half the time taken by an ICBM and without the warning. Such a system could also be equipped with sensors to detect incoming anti-ballistic missile-type threats and relatively light protective measures to use against them (e.g. Hit-To-Kill Missiles or megawatt-class chemical laser).
The highly elongated shape and high density are to enhance sectional density and therefore minimize kinetic energy loss due to air friction and maximize penetration of hard or buried targets. The larger device is expected to be quite good at penetrating deeply buried bunkers and other command and control targets.[9]
The weapon would be very hard to defend against. It has a very high closing velocity and a small radar cross-section. Launch is difficult to detect. Any infrared launch signature occurs in orbit, at no fixed position. The infrared launch signature also has a small magnitude compared to a ballistic missile launch. One drawback of the system is that the weapon's sensors would almost certainly be blind during atmospheric reentry due to the plasma sheath that would develop ahead of it, so a mobile target could be difficult to hit if it performed any unexpected maneuvering.[citation needed] The system would also have to cope with atmospheric heating from re-entry, which could melt non-tungsten components of the weapon.[10]
The phrase "Rods from God" is also used to describe the same concept.[11] A USAF report called them "hypervelocity rod bundles".[12]
In science fiction
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Perhaps the earliest examples of kinetic bombardment come from E. E. "Doc" Smith's 1930s and 1940s Lensman series. In these books, however, planetary masses were used rather than smaller projectiles. It was in the mid-1960s that popular science interest in orbital mechanics led to a number of science fiction stories which explored their implications. Among these was The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein in which the citizens of the moon bombard the earth with rocks wrapped in iron containers which are in turn fired from an electromagnetic launch system at Earth-based targets.
In the 1970s and 1980s this idea was refined in science fiction novels such as Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (the same Pournelle that first proposed the idea for military use in a non-fiction context), in which aliens use a Thor-type system. During the 1980s and 1990s references to such weapons became a staple of science fiction roleplaying games such as Traveller, Shadowrun and Heavy Gear (the latter game naming these weapons ortillery, a portmanteau of orbital artillery), as well as visual media including Babylon 5's "mass drivers" and the film Starship Troopers, itself an adaptation of a Heinlein novel of the same name.
A smaller "crowbar" variant is mentioned in David's Sling by Mark Steigler (Baen, 1988). Set in the Cold War, the story is based on the use of (relatively inexpensive) information-based "intelligent" systems to overcome an enemy's numerical advantage. The orbital kinetic bombardment system is used first to destroy the Soviet tank armies that have invaded Europe and then to take out Soviet ICBM silos prior to a nuclear strike.
This becomes relevant in Neal Stephenson's Anathem when a Kinetic Bombardment weapon is deployed from orbit to trigger the eruption of a dormant Volcano.
In the 2000s and early 2010s, kinetic weapons as science fiction plot devices appeared in video games, featuring prominently in the plot of Tom Clancy's Endwar, Mass Effect 2 and Call of Duty: Ghosts' ODIN strike, or the MAC from the Halo franchise, for example.
See also
References
- ^ Jonathan Shainin (10 December 2006). "Rods From God". New York Times.
- ^ Jerry Pournelle (6 March 2006). "Chaos Manor Mail". The View from Chaos Manor.
- ^ Giuseppe Anzera (18 August 2005). "Star Wars: Empires strike back". Asia Times. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ a b c John Arquilla (12 March 2006). "RODS FROM GOD / Imagine a bundle of telephone poles hurtling through space at 7,000 mph". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ a b Julian Borger (19 May 2005). "Bush likely to back weapons in space". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ Paul Reynolds (23 January 2007). "China's space challenge to the US". BBC News. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ Jack Kelly (28 July 2003). "Rods from God". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. A5.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Popular Science: "Rods from God" Jun 2004
- ^ History Television, 'The Universe', season 4, episode 8, "Space Wars"; referring to rod from God
- ^ Noah Shachtman (20 February 2004). "Pentagon Preps for War in Space". Wired. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ Michael Goldfarb (8 June 2005). "The Rods from God". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
- ^ Eric Adams (June 2004). "Rods from God". Popular Science. Retrieved May 2010.
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Further reading
- U.S. Air Force Transformation Flight Plan, United States Air Force, November 2003
- Space Weapons, Earth Wars, RAND Corporation, 2002, ISBN 0-8330-2937-1
External links
- "Rods from God". weeklystandard.com.
- "Rods from God". Popular Science. June 2004.
- Richard L. Garwin (14 May 2003). "Space Weapons, Not Yet" (PDF).