The Rods from God

[Bravo Zulu]

The Rods from God
Are kinetic-energy weapons the future of space warfare?
by Michael Goldfarb
06/08/2005 12:00:00 AM


BY CHANCE, the same day that Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was released in theaters across the country, the world learned of the Bush administration's plans to weaponize space. So while critics speculated about the parallels between the Evil Empire and the Bush administrations debated the merits of "space superiority"--the allies it would alienate, the treaties it would violate, the billions it would cost. The irony was not lost on Teresa Hitchens, vice president of the Center for Defense Information, whose insistence that the world would not "accept the U.S. developing something they see as the death star," was carried in the pages of the New York Times.

Among the weapons the Air Force might deploy are space-based lasers, a space plane capable of delivering a half-ton payload anywhere in the world in 45 minutes, and the "rods from god." The rods are currently just a concept--and have been since the early 1980s--but, if the myriad technical and political hurdles to deployment could be overcome, the system could represent a tremendous leap forward in the military's ability to destroy underground, hardened facilities of the type that have allowed Iran and other rogue states to violate the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty with impunity.

HOW DO THE RODS WORK? The system would likely be comprised of tandem satellites, one serving as a communications platform, the other carrying an indeterminate number of tungsten rods, each up to 20 feet in length and 1 foot in diameter. These rods, which could be dropped on a target with as little as 15 minutes notice, would enter the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 36,000 feet per second--about as fast as a meteor. Upon impact, the rod would be capable of producing all the effects of an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, without any of the radioactive fallout. This type of weapon relies on kinetic energy, rather than high-explosives, to generate destructive force (as do smart spears, another weapon system which would rely on tungsten rods, though not space-based).
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/700oklkt.asp

[DS1]

1. yeah, they've been talking about this for a long time

but the last time I read about it, a foot long rod 1 inch wide would be enough to split an aircraft carrier in two. :shrug:

[unhappycamper]

2. Could you cross post this to the Veterans forum?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=259

Thanks!

[Bravo Zulu]

3. Yes sir

done

[lovuian]

4. I resent that God is put with this...God wouldn't use these

evil things

China gave them a wakeup call when they destroyed their satellites They will blast them from the sky



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWJw8Wn3jpk

[lapfog_1]

5. The author Robert Heinlein had this idea in 1966 - n/t