The SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY News Thread

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

This still looks horribly bad.
The projectile comes out completely deformed, burning, and with parts of it coming off. Then it starts tumbling sidewards instantly.
Such a broken projectile will never be able to hit something several kilometers off.
And they want to load cruise missles in there?

If you notice, the projectile itself when loaded is almost nearly the same shape: highly un-aerodynamic and obviously unstable. Actual working projectiles that would be fired off an operational railgun would obviously not look like that, and the plan is to use saboted rounds for them. The fact that such a "brick" still managed to fly at such high velocities and in an almost steady flightpath for quite a distance proves the tech works.

Also, the blunt round is for safety purposes: given the power of that railgun, using an actual aerodynamic round in a test would see that railgun shoot a deadly projectile for MILES... into who knows what. If you think the Mythbusters Cannonball Accident was bad...

[Dhomochevsky]

Just compare it with modern tank rounds.
They have spring-out fins.
Which is much more low tech then a cruise missile. But even that won't work if it gets mangled like that.

To be fair, they are using aluminium blocks. Thats a pretty soft metal and malforming should be expected at those accellerations. But why are they using that in the first place?
I'd think if you want to deliver kinetic energy over a a far stretch of air with a solid metal block, you would use a compact material.
Not the one that's commonly used for light contructions...

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

Just compare it with modern tank rounds.
They have spring-out fins.
Which is much more low tech then a cruise missile. But even that won't work if it gets mangled like that.

To be fair, they are using aluminium blocks. Thats a pretty soft metal and malforming should be expected at those accellerations. But why are they using that in the first place?
I'd think if you want to deliver kinetic energy over a a far stretch of air with a solid metal block, you would use a compact material.
Not the one that's commonly used for light contructions...

Most modern tank rounds don't have spring out fins: APFSDS (Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) rounds have their fins already deployed, just kept out of contact by the surrounding sabot. Gun-launched guided munitions might have deployable fins, but they're not operational on MBT's as of the moment, with most being used on artillery.

Also, who says they're going to use aluminum for operational railguns? They'll likely use Depleted Uranium or Tungsten Carbide for working rounds. Aluminum is rarely used as actual projectiles, and in weapons they're only rarely used for cartridge casings.

Edit: Found it.

Railgun Update from General Atomics, 2011

The video in the link shows how an actual saboted penetrator round performs when fired from a railgun.

[Ithekro]

They didn't say 'cruise missiles" They said "guided". Which in this case means a projecticle with fins and a GPS system that can correct its course over the 100+ mile flight time after being launched out of the railgun. Would be a little over a minute flight time.

Though I seem to recall rumors they had some other system in the works that could fire a round 200 miles away and hit in about 18 seconds, as the reload time was about 9 seconds and the second round would be fired before the first hit the target. But that is upwards of 40,000 mph (17.9~ kilometers per second?) At that point you want kinetic energy damage more than penetration or explosives...as if you use penetration you will likely just pass right though your target like it wasn't even there.

[Dhomochevsky]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Railgun Update from General Atomics, 2011

The video in the link shows how an actual saboted penetrator round performs when fired from a railgun.

That looks much better.
Proves that the tumbling comes from using a squishy aluminium block and is not inherent with the firing system.

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

They didn't say 'cruise missiles" They said "guided". Which in this case means a projecticle with fins and a GPS system that can correct its course over the 100+ mile flight time after being launched out of the railgun. Would is a little over a minute flight time.

Though I seem to recall rumors they had some other system in the works that could fire a round 200 miles away and hit in about 18 seconds, as the reload time was about 9 seconds and the second round would be fired before the first hit the target. But that is upwards of 40,000 mph (17.9~ kilometers per second?) At that point you want kinetic energy damage more than penetration or explosives...as if you use penetration you will likely just pass right though your target like it wasn't even there.

That's nuthin', check out *this* bad-boy:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/01/oce...-delivery.html

Now imagine an artillery version with GPS-guided shells.

[Dhomochevsky]

The problem with space guns is, that you have to aply all the the speed you need to reach orbit at once. That means down here, where the athmosphere is densest, you have the maximum speed.
You can only shoot up stuff, that is really, really fireproof. Think of a reverse meteor.

[Ithekro]

We had a plan to use something like that to fire things the mass of a city bus intercontinental style. It wouldn't be a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. Just kinetic.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

We had a plan to use something like that to fire things the mass of a city bus intercontinental style. It wouldn't be a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. Just kinetic.

They planned to fire a magic schoolbus?

[Ithekro]

A "Bus Gun".

Something solid that can take the friction from the atmosphere and the heat both going out and coming back in. But have the mass of a bus. Something around or more than 10 tons.

[Malkuth]

Time-rewind/History-lesson... when I managed to rationalize the human concept of speech, way back in 1983, in the other side of Atlantic a modernly-understood-internet-like service was launched and available, that offered with what we had to wait for 20-25 years to become mainstream, with what we call today the internet... so what went wrong (dedicated-HW, another-finance-incompetence-case, or advert/promotion-failure)

Original blog-post here, and I found it through ./

Your thoughts

[Irenicus]

^That site's got another interesting link (at least for me):

Irenicus "I can see my house from here!"

Yah RLY~

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

^That site's got another interesting link (at least for me):

Irenicus "I can see my house from here!"

Yah RLY~

Please tell us where is your house so we can send the FBI down to arrest you for building a loli harem.

[AnimeFan188]

Silence Gun: Strange weapon of the future immediately quiets you, whether you like
it or not:

"Ever since humans first invented guns, they've been inventing new uses for them.
Some shoot bullets; others shoot lasers. But a strange and unsettling new gun
being developed by Japanese researchers shoots sound waves in an effort to
disrupt and silence anyone who dares speak out of turn.

The gun operates based on the concept of delayed auditory feedback. An attached
microphone picks up the sound being made by the target and plays it back 0.2
seconds later. The effect is incredibly confusing to the human brain, making it all but
impossible to talk or hold a conversation. The device doesn't cause the person it's
being used on any physical harm — it simply messes with their head."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...HRlc3QD;_ylv=3

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Silence Gun: Strange weapon of the future immediately quiets you, whether you like
it or not:

"Ever since humans first invented guns, they've been inventing new uses for them.
Some shoot bullets; others shoot lasers. But a strange and unsettling new gun
being developed by Japanese researchers shoots sound waves in an effort to
disrupt and silence anyone who dares speak out of turn.

The gun operates based on the concept of delayed auditory feedback. An attached
microphone picks up the sound being made by the target and plays it back 0.2
seconds later. The effect is incredibly confusing to the human brain, making it all but
impossible to talk or hold a conversation. The device doesn't cause the person it's
being used on any physical harm — it simply messes with their head."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...HRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Note : it won't work with most politicians since they have no brain to begin with.

Also, it has already been proven that the research is a failure, one can talk without a brain.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Silence Gun: Strange weapon of the future immediately quiets you, whether you like
it or not:

"Ever since humans first invented guns, they've been inventing new uses for them.
Some shoot bullets; others shoot lasers. But a strange and unsettling new gun
being developed by Japanese researchers shoots sound waves in an effort to
disrupt and silence anyone who dares speak out of turn.

The gun operates based on the concept of delayed auditory feedback. An attached
microphone picks up the sound being made by the target and plays it back 0.2
seconds later. The effect is incredibly confusing to the human brain, making it all but
impossible to talk or hold a conversation. The device doesn't cause the person it's
being used on any physical harm — it simply messes with their head."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...HRlc3QD;_ylv=3

This is easily defeated with a $20 pair of noise-dampening earmuffs, like the kind used by airport ground crews and sport shooters.

[ganbaru]

NASA says was hacked 13 times last year
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8211G320120303

Hackers winning security war: executives
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8211P720120302

[Vena]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

This is easily defeated with a $20 pair of noise-dampening earmuffs, like the kind used by airport ground crews and sport shooters.

1$ airplane earplugs will do the trick too.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vena

1$ airplane earplugs will do the trick too.

You don't even need those. The human brain will eventually adapt to capture those signals and ignore it.

[Vexx]

Multiplexing advance - "vortex radio waves". In theory, according to the team, we could potentially transmit an “infinite number” of TV, radio, WiFi, and cellular channels at the same time over the same frequency, blasting apart our highly congested wireless spectrum. I know a bit about electromagnetic theory and antennas... this is pretty cool stuff if it is able to scale up to commercial levels.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/1...ity-infinitely