Inspections have begun on Air Force space plane

On 12/29/2010 1:56 PM, David Spain wrote:
What fun is it if you can't shutdown orbital access for at least two
generations until the concept of space travel passes completely from the
public imagination? Really, Pat, boring....

I came up with a way to improve on that idea years back. You send up a
Shuttle with a 7.62 cal GE Minigun modified for water cooling and a
****load of ammo in its cargo bay; as the shuttle orbits the rotary
cannon swivels ninety degrees to either side as it fires, throwing 7.62
cal bullets into all sorts of nifty orbits by the tens of thousands. The
ejected shell casings form a bonus debris cloud also.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

I came up with a way to improve on that idea years back. You send up a
Shuttle with a 7.62 cal GE Minigun modified for water cooling and a
****load of ammo in its cargo bay; as the shuttle orbits the rotary
cannon swivels ninety degrees to either side as it fires, throwing 7.62
cal bullets into all sorts of nifty orbits by the tens of thousands. The
ejected shell casings form a bonus debris cloud also.

Pat

Ah, what a concept. In your day job do you go by the name of Prof. Fate? Or
your highness Crown Prince Frederick Hoepnick?

And just how many orbits do you make before you've destroyed yourself when
your bullets catch up to you?

BTW, I still think the Hannibal 8 was one of your greatest inventions!

Dave 'Push the button, Max' Spain

;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Race
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059243/

http://www.carthrottle.com/professor...ould-be-yours/

wrote:
On Dec 30, 12:48?am, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 12/29/2010 1:56 PM, David Spain wrote:
What fun is it if you can't shutdown orbital access for at least
two generations until the concept of space travel passes
completely from the public imagination? Really, Pat, boring....
I came up with a way to improve on that idea years back. You send
up a Shuttle with a 7.62 cal GE Minigun modified for water cooling
and a ****load of ammo in its cargo bay; as the shuttle orbits the
rotary cannon swivels ninety degrees to either side as it fires,
throwing 7.62 cal bullets into all sorts of nifty orbits by the
tens of thousands. The ejected shell casings form a bonus debris
cloud also.

far easier to just detonate a singe rocket whos payload is explosives
and ball bearings.
you dont need high tech to make LEO unusable

Ah, but the minigun would be doing it with *style*

rick jones
--
a wide gulf separates "what if" from "if only"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

On 12/30/2010 7:53 AM, David Spain wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote:

I came up with a way to improve on that idea years back. You send up a
Shuttle with a 7.62 cal GE Minigun modified for water cooling and a
****load of ammo in its cargo bay; as the shuttle orbits the rotary
cannon swivels ninety degrees to either side as it fires, throwing
7.62 cal bullets into all sorts of nifty orbits by the tens of
thousands. The ejected shell casings form a bonus debris cloud also.

Pat

Ah, what a concept. In your day job do you go by the name of Prof. Fate?
Or your highness Crown Prince Frederick Hoepnick?

Herr Schultze of Stahlstadt!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Begum%27s_Fortune
Death to Frankville!

And just how many orbits do you make before you've destroyed yourself
when your bullets catch up to you?

That would take a while, as they would have to circle the whole Earth
once before coming back to where you are.
Velocity of them coming out of the Minigun is 1,943 mph; since
circumference of your orbit will be around 25,000 miles, you have around
12 hours between starting to fire and needing to reenter to get out of
the bullet's way.
With a practical firing rate of 4,000 rpm, the Minigun could fire a
theoretical total of 2,880,000 rounds during that time.
Each round weighs around 400 grains, so if we double that for the weight
of the rounds plus their feed belts, and devote around 4,000 pounds to
the gun, it's ammo storage system, and water cooling it (GE came up with
a way to run the Minigun via gas venting from the barrels spinning it,
so no need for batteries) that means a Shuttle could carry around 46,000
pounds of ammo aboard, or around 402,500 rounds of ammo.
We can fire all that in around 100 minute's time, so we can easily be
back down on the ground before there's any danger of getting hit by our
own bullets. The only problem we have is the recoil of the gun working
like a retro rocket when it's aiming through the forward arc and slowing
the Shuttle down; we will have to carry more OMS fuel to make up for
that in the cargo bay, so it's more likely we will be only firing around
250-300,000 rounds, but that should still screw up LEO but good for some
time, particularly given that the ones fired ahead end up in higher
orbits than where they started at, and are therefore longer lived.
You don't have to worry about the rifling in the barrels wearing down,
as with no air to deflect their course it doesn't matter if the bullets
tumble.

BTW, I still think the Hannibal 8 was one of your greatest inventions!

What was really annoying was that they did bring out a model of Leslie's
car at the time the movie came out, but never one of the Hannibal Twin
8, which was a far more interesting car, particularly if you could get
all the goodies on it to operate.
And I really did experience that cannon explosion that fried me, and
most of my friends have noted a certain similarity between my luck with
my inventions and those of both Prof. Fate and Wile E. Coyote... :-D

http://www.carthrottle.com/professor...ould-be-yours/

I still love that acoustic homing torpedo of his.

Pat

"David Spain" wrote in message
...
Pat Flannery wrote:
Instead of sending up the buckshot in satellites, it would make more
sense to simply fire it straight up into the path of a oncoming satellite
and let it run into it at 18,000 mph; and pellets it doesn't hit will
simply fall back into the atmosphere rather than staying in orbit.
Studies of this concept showed you didn't need anything as big as
buckshot to fatally injure a satellite either; fine sand or even things
the size of smoke particles would tear up its antennas and solar arrays.



~"Obviously you are unaware of the effects of Gabal Thorium G.

Our doomsday plan costs us only a fraction of what we were spending on
defense, all the while our people were grumbling for nylons and washing
machines. But the final straw was when we read your government was working
along similar lines. Our source was the New York Times."~



Presidennt: But this is fantastic, Strangelove. How can it be triggered
automatically?

Strangelove: "Well, it's remarkably simple to do that. When you merely
wish to bury bombs, there is no limit to the size. After that they are
connected to a gigantic complex of computers. Now then, a specific
and clearly defined set of circumstances, under which the bombs
are to be exploded, is programmed into a tape memory bank. Yes, but
the...whole point of the doomsday machine.. is LOST...if you keep it
a SECRET! "

"Why didn't you tell the world, eh?"

DeSadeski: It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday.
As you know, the Premier loves surprises."

Strangelove: "Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was
that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which
at this moment must be all too obvious."

"Me" wrote in message
...

Read what i said. It is not a prototype of a larger vehicle. There
is no final size.

I understand it's a platform for testing a number of new
systems to be used in some future spacecraft. Which could
be anything and of any size.

But even the slightest amount of common sense says its a scale
version closely modeled to what they envision to be the
final product.