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Birth of a Notion.
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Great, big, *BIG* springs, for launching cheap weapons at other countries far, far away. (Or just to see how big of a splash you can raise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)
A rock weighing 40 tonne landing on your underground bunker from a ballistic trajectory that takes it 175km into space will
be warm when it arrives and make a very large dent.
Cheaper than cruise missiles, the rocks may even be disguised as space landfill, or space junk (if they contain enough Iridium).
Is with most military applications, there will be attempts to adapt this one for intercontinental travel, though the acceleration might be a little harsh.
[link]
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And don't forget that cartoony "SPROING" sound it makes when firing.. Intercontinental breakfast croissant coming your way.. |
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Reminds me of a scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"... (+) |
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Surely such a weapon would eventually fall in to the wrong hands and be used to launch giant cream pies. |
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Miniature versions could be used to fling projectile "Munchkins". (The Great Munchkin War of 2002). |
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Skreek, skreek. Skree-eee-eeek. KA-DOING-ING-ING-ING-ing-ing-ing. "Dang, it's gone off early again." I'm not sure whether the bun will reach Australia now. |
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There are millions of starving kids in Africa who would kill for your croissants to fall from the sky, lightly toasted. |
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I think that's about as far as they're gonna get, UB! |
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Now Bush will push development of star war springs to shoot up giant sheets of paper to wrap the boulders. The next arms race step will be super scissors. |
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I'm pretty sure that these are a "militarily significant violation" of START. |
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I have to say it
Flying Custard
or
Flying Cats |
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And if you launch...
...a bottle of water, you get...
...a chicken, you get...
...a box, you get...
...a roll, you get...
...a clock, you get... |
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I'm not certain this isn't already in trials. A friend of mine, Brian S., found a raw leg of pork under the clothesline in his back yard about 11 years ago. |
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It may well have been a dropshort in some crude attempt to effect a change of government in Iraq, during the Gulf War. |
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You'd have to make sure that your spring was firmly tethered at one end UB otherwise, if it managed to slip it's moorings during the launch, you'd end up with a gigantic slinky roaming, uncontrolled through the countryside. |
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Now *that* would be neat. |
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Thank you, egbert. None so blind as those who will not see. |
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Bob, I like it. It sure would save on rocks. |
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what about a really huge slingshot (might be easier to make giant rubber band.)? and instead of rocks, why not garbage? |
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Twubble wiv springs is that the have much more force in them at the beginning than later- better to use a hydraulic or pneumatic system for initial acceleration, then light the booster that now has significant kinetic energy in. Iread somewhere that the russian Dnepr launche/ICBM has hydraulic acceleration. |
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sgt. dukie: I believe the Elbonians already did that in a Dilbert story arc from a few years ago. |
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I was just about to post "Giant Slinky Spring of Death" but it looks like UB got there before me. Ideally you'd need a battlefield with a gentle incline. |
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A large potato gun might be more effective. Didn't Saddam already try that? |
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Why rocks? We could pakage all our crap - old applainces, obsolete computers, crushed cars, soiled diapers and so on - to releive us of our own waste while simultaneously raining down effluent upon our enemies. |
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The launchers could be built clandestinely underneath Jack-in-the-Box restaurants. |
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