Could a bullet be made of something that could go from orbit to Earth's surface?

I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at the
planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the trip?
And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the bullet
go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

Idly curious,
Scott Jensen
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The bullet would not burn up. It is not going 18,000 miles per hour, only
about the speed of sound. It would do the same thing as if shot from the
ground straight up, turn around and come down.

"Scott T. Jensen" wrote in message
...
I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at
the
planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all
the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the
trip?
And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the
bullet
go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

Idly curious,
Scott Jensen
--
Peer-to-peer networking (a.k.a. file-sharing) is entertainment's future.
If you'd like to know why, read the white paper at the link below.
http://www.scottjensenshow.com/P2PRevolution.pdf




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"Scott T. Jensen" wrote in
:

I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk.
I take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet
down at the planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it
to make it all the way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our
atmosphere? Is there anything the bullet could be made of that would
be able it to make the trip? And would the speed of the bullet affect
its chances? Would also the bullet go weird like how bullets do when
you shoot them into a pool of water?

To hit the Earth, you'll have to aim at the horizon. After which
you'll go ballistic.

--Damon

In sci.space.tech Scott T. Jensen wrote:
I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at the
planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the trip?
And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the bullet
go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

If the bullet reaces surfaces then changes are good you left Earth
Orbit... The major effort is not making the bullet reach surface but
maiking a gun that could impart it with enough velocity. You couldn't
achieve it with a chemical gun, for example.


Idly curious,
Scott Jensen

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

"Sander Vesik" wrote:
In sci.space.tech Scott T. Jensen wrote:
I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little
space walk. I take along my specially designed hunting
rifle and fire a bullet down at the planet. What would the
bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the way to
the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere?
Is there anything the bullet could be made of that would
be able it to make the trip? And would the speed of the
bullet affect its chances? Would also the bullet go weird
like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of
water?

If the bullet reaces surfaces then changes are good you left
Earth Orbit... The major effort is not making the bullet reach
surface but maiking a gun that could impart it with enough
velocity. You couldn't achieve it with a chemical gun, for
example.

How much velocity would it need?

Scott Jensen
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Discuss it with the professionals that hang out at...
misc.business.consulting, misc.business.marketing.moderated
misc.business.moderated, and misc.entrepreneurs.moderated

"Damon Hill" wrote:
"Scott T. Jensen" wrote:
I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk.
I take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet
down at the planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it
to make it all the way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our
atmosphere? Is there anything the bullet could be made of that would
be able it to make the trip? And would the speed of the bullet affect
its chances? Would also the bullet go weird like how bullets do when
you shoot them into a pool of water?

To hit the Earth, you'll have to aim at the horizon. After which
you'll go ballistic.

Sorry. I don't follow. Please explain.

Scott Jensen
--
Got a business question, problem, or dream?
Discuss it with the professionals that hang out at...
misc.business.consulting, misc.business.marketing.moderated
misc.business.moderated, and misc.entrepreneurs.moderated

Sander Vesik wrote:

In sci.space.tech Scott T. Jensen wrote:
I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at the
planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the trip?
And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the bullet
go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

If the bullet reaces surfaces then changes are good you left Earth
Orbit... The major effort is not making the bullet reach surface but
maiking a gun that could impart it with enough velocity. You couldn't
achieve it with a chemical gun, for example.


Idly curious,
Scott Jensen

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++


If you fire opposite orbital direction, you've effectively given it a
'de-orbit' burn. Its perigee will be low enough to enter the atmosphere.

After that, it's a matter of what it's made of, and how much it
weighs, compared to the entry surface area. I don't know if it would
stay in a 'flat' attitude, or end up entering nose-first. (or something
more complex, once friction slows the spinning I assume it was given
from barrel rifling)

If you fire it *ahead,* you've given it an orbit with a higher apogee
than before, and added to the orbital debris situation. (shame on you)


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"Scott T. Jensen" wrote in message
...

I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at

the

planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all

the

way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the

trip?

And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the

bullet

go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

Idly curious,
Scott Jensen

Rodney Kelp wrote:
The bullet would not burn up. It is not going 18,000 miles per hour, only
about the speed of sound. It would do the same thing as if shot from the
ground straight up, turn around and come down.

This is nonsense. The OP has stated that he's 'on the Space
Station', which is in orbit, moving at orbital velocity (18,000 mph,
or whatever.)

Firing a gun will impart at most around 2000 mph of delta-v to the
slug. So it'll still enter the atmosphere at 16,000 mph plus, and
if lead, will probably melt/vaporize.

Some armor penetrating rounds have steel or tungsten inserts. I doubt
if steel would survive, but the tungsten ones might.

Peter Trei

"Scott T. Jensen" wrote in message


I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at the
planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the trip?
And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the bullet
go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

If you shot the bullet in the opposite direction from the orbit,
it would probably lose enough speed to go into a lower
elliptical orbit that hits the atmosphere and thus reenter.

Then if it was made of tungsten or something refractory it
should make it to the ground. Iron high enough melting?
See
http://www.aero.org/cords/faq3.html
for some photos of stuff that has made it down.

Tom Clarke







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Sander Vesik wrote in message ...
In sci.space.tech Scott T. Jensen wrote:
I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk. I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at the
planet. What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our atmosphere? Is there
anything the bullet could be made of that would be able it to make the trip?
And would the speed of the bullet affect its chances? Would also the bullet
go weird like how bullets do when you shoot them into a pool of water?

If the bullet reaces surfaces then changes are good you left Earth
Orbit... The major effort is not making the bullet reach surface but
maiking a gun that could impart it with enough velocity. You couldn't
achieve it with a chemical gun, for example.


Idly curious,
Scott Jensen


All the posts I've seen so far are wrong.

1. If you fire a gun during a "space walk" from the space station,
you ARE going 18,000 mph, and you are only changing the velocity of
the bullet (let's say) 1500 feet per second (1000mph). The bullet
won't stop moving 18,000mph and THEN head straight down. The downward
velocity is added to it's previous velocity. Like throwing a ball out
a moving car window.

If you want a bullet to hit the earth for sure, you need to fire it
opposite the direction of travel (thus "slowing" it to 17,000mph), at
which point it would dip down into the atmosphere. Kinda like when
the shuttle de-orbits.

If you want it to survive, it would need to be made of some sort of
refractory material that is impervious to temperatures over 3500F and
oxidative enviroments.

Tungsten would probably make it. Molybdenum and Nobium could too, if
I remember their melting temperatures right. A hunk of graphite,
assuming it stayed structurally intact, might make it too. Open a
materials book and see what stays solid comfortably beyond 3500F and
doesn't mind corrosive enviroments.

Dave