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Post by mikeck on Sept 29, 2016 18:36:28 GMT
I had read years ago on "project Orion" which researched using nuclear detonations as energy for propulsion. I saw this stated in the article:
"The shape of the bomb's reaction mass is critical to efficiency. The original project designed bombs with a reaction mass made of tungsten. The bomb's geometry and materials focused the X-rays and plasma from the core of nuclear explosive to hit the reaction mass. In effect each bomb would be a nuclear shaped charge."
So my question is: by "shaping" or using some type of shaped container, would it be possible to make nuclear detonations in space much more effective against a specific point in space (enemy ship) by directing more of the energy to that spot? So instead of a spherical explosion, you get one that looks like a cone. It would direct far more x-Rays, heat and plasma into the ship (or ships).
Is it physically possible?
Is it practical for near future weapons use?
It wouldn't require all of the energy be directed...but if you could get just 1% of the energy to hit the ship, that would likely be thousands of time more than it would get (depending on how far away it was)
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Post by boomertiro on Sept 29, 2016 18:56:26 GMT
I thought you could already have shaped charges in the game...
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Post by mikeck on Sept 29, 2016 20:48:35 GMT
I don't think so. I have not seen or read anything to indicate that they exist in the game.
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Post by beta on Sept 30, 2016 2:33:25 GMT
Read a bit on nuclear pumped X-ray lasers. They looked into it. Turns out, focusing X-rays is hard, things tend to vaporize instead.
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Post by mikeck on Sept 30, 2016 2:51:46 GMT
Yeah, I know they looked at using that as a "Star Wars" ICBM defense system in the 80's. What I don't know is how well it worked and what the limitations were. I also don't know how "focused" they needed to make it. My idea is more of directing a larger percentage of the explosive into an area rather than using part as a tightly focused beam.
Instead of an explosion in a sphere, you get it in a cone. Don't need it in a beam. Frankly, I just don't know enough about it at all
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Post by beta on Sept 30, 2016 3:35:52 GMT
There is some speculation about nuclear shaped charges already existing, unfortunately (or not ..) it is all pretty much classified.
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Post by quarkster on Sept 30, 2016 4:46:48 GMT
Read a bit on nuclear pumped X-ray lasers. They looked into it. Turns out, focusing X-rays is hard, things tend to vaporize instead. This has almost nothing to do with nuclear shaped charges. |
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Post by Argopeilacos on Sept 30, 2016 7:06:48 GMT
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Post by mikeck on Sept 30, 2016 17:14:11 GMT
Thanks! That's exactly what I was talking about. Wonder if we can get it into the game? Seems plausible since the tech has been used in a lab. Just not mature yet. Would increase the usefulness of nuclear weapons immensely!! See below from that sight. I think a plasma jet of material striking a hull at .3c would be....bad
"Velocities achievable with thermonuclear shaped charges are impressive. Unlike molten jets produced by conventional shaped charges, which are limited to about 10 kilometers per second (about four times the velocities of the gases resulting from chemical explosions), thermonuclear shaped charges can in principle propel matter more than two orders of magnitude faster. Since fusion temperatures reach 100 million K, the detonation front of a thermonuclear explosive travels at speeds in excess of 1,000 kilometers per second. Using a convergent conical thermonuclear bum-wave with a suitable liner, one could theoretically create a jet traveling at 10,000 kilometers per second, or 3 percent of the speed of light.‡
Up to 5 percent of the energy of a small nuclear device reportedly can be converted into kinetic energy of a plate, presumably by employing some combination of explosive wave-shaping and "gun-barrel" design, and produce velocities of 100 kilometers per second and beam angles of 10-3 radians*. (The Chamita test of 17 August 1985, reportedly accelerated a 1-kilogram tungsten/molybdenum plate to 70 kilometers per second.† ) If one chooses to power 10 beams by a single explosion, engaging targets at a range of 2,000 kilometers with a kill energy of 40 kilojoules per pellet (one pellet per square meter), then such a device would require an 8-kiloton explosive and could tolerate random accelerations in the target, such as a maneuvering RV or satellite, of up to 0.5 g (5 m/s2).‡"
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Post by fenrin49 on Dec 17, 2016 14:52:24 GMT
this might actualy already be a thing while attempting to make a nfp out of an armor nose cone i found that the hostile ship was often taking no damage but my own ship quite far away was getting heated up by the blast never managed to get it to work in revers reliably though
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Post by ross128 on Dec 17, 2016 23:48:15 GMT
I thought you could already have shaped charges in the game... We don't, since to have shaped charges we'd have to, well, shape the charge. What we do have are nuclear-accelerated projectiles (or as we commonly call them around here, nuclear explosively formed penetrators), where we just put something dense and heat-resistant (usually Osmium or Tungsten) right next to a nuke, and let the explosion fling it toward the enemy. Far, far less efficient than an actual shaped charge, but it does let us sidestep the inverse-square law a little bit by converting a small chunk of the explosion into kinetic energy. |
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Post by fenrin49 on Dec 18, 2016 2:17:55 GMT
in turning that explosive energy into kinetic any one had much success throwing mass that isnt so tough on a nuke to give it some extra mass to convert to dust/liquid/plasma?
i tried some thick potassium and in some cases it seemed to do better than the raw nuke
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