real life rail gun

[Danno]

There has also been interest/talk/etc.. in using railguns to launch supplies into space too.

[Wildcard]

Pretty sweet. I wonder if these navy researchers play 40k...

If they do, all i can say is "******* Tau fanboys"..

Where's my bolter?
Where's my chainsword?
Wheres my lasgun?

using railguns to launch supplies into space

No matter what food they would pack in those containers, the astronauts better like pancakes, cos thats all they gonna be receiving with the G-forces required to shoot something into the high orbit

Edit: Not ofc the G-force required, but the force and velocity where the G-forces are coming, silly me

[DarkLink]

Actually, those are called mass drivers. They're essentially the same mechanism as a rail gun, but instead of sending a "small" hunk of metal at extremely high velocities they propel a very large mass like a space shuttle at moderately high velocities.

They aren't being seriously considered to launch things in orbit from Earth, for the reasons Wildcard mentioned. However, if we were to build a moon base mass drivers would be one of the easiest and most efficient ways to send stuff up into the moon's orbit.



As for [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOoUVeyaY_8"]bo[/URL][URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOoUVeyaY_8"]lt[/URL][URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7L0Frj6vQ"]er[/URL]s, chainswords and lasguns, well, at least the first one is somewhat feasible. There's no actual conceivable reason to use a chainsaw as a military weapon, and lasers require massive, massive batteries and other equipment to use as an actual weapon.

[1lainie1]

i remember seeing this a while ago. wish i could see what would happen to a car after geting hit by that.

[Warped-Bitz]

Id like to see the damage one of these beasts could do....

[DarkLink]

You actually can see it. Some of those videos show the projectile punching through a steel plate like it was paper. In fact, some of them show the performance of the projectile by measuring how many kilometers the projectile could still travel even after punching through a steel plate.

[candlehand]

Does anyone know why the projectile is shaped so strangely? It surprises me that it's not more streamlined/spinning from a rifled barrel. Maybe it's something they'll add later.

On the other hand, getting hit by a supersonic chunk of blunt metal seems very grimdark future!

[Franek_Dolas]

Now that we have a successful test, we should be seeing these babies mounted on ships in the next few years.

[Kataklysm]

Pretty sweet. I wonder if these navy researchers play 40k...

I lol'd so hard at the thought of this.

[Colonel Falkenberg]

I wonder how long it takes for them to mount a railgun in a satilite? A kinetic energy weapon platform in orbit would definately give you the high ground. Not sure if the non nukes in space treaty covers that.