Effects and feasability of a modern-day Olympus and Hephestus
The time... a few years from now. On the laser-launch pad of one of the spacefaring nations of Earth, a spacecraft stands, the time until its launch counting down steadily. The launch vehicle weighs 1300 tons but on top there is only a satellite. A big satellite, weighing in at 100 metric tons.
The agency that launches it claims that it is part of an unmanned station intended to study gravity away from the perterbing effects of Earth and its restless crust. However, this is a lie...
The satellite is launched, and takes its place in the sky in a high-earth polar orbit, above geostationary orbit level. Once there, it joins 39 fellow satellites that have previously docked with each other, and docks, forming the last piece of a 4,000 metric ton assembly, the whole codenamed "Olympus". There Olympus stays, seemingly inert save for regular encrypted communication with the launching agency, and occasional orbital corrections.
Then the time comes for the government that launched it to demonstrate its true purpose. An encoded message is sent and received, and the Olympus swings into action.
Until that moment, its internals were protected from the vacuum of space inside sealed capsules filled with an inert gas, and protected from the cold of space by heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels. On receiving the command to begin preparations, the protective atmosphere is vented gently, so as to avoid perterbing Olympus' orbit, and the internal mechanism begins its work.
Olympus is designed to do just one thing... that being to assemble its depleted uranium payload, launched as a collection of long rods. The machinery grabs a depleted uranium rod around an inch thick from its launch cradle, moves it into place, and then another part of the mechanism pushes it almost all the way out of the bottom of the satellite and holds it in place while the first part grabs another rod and screws the thread on its tip into the threaded socket on the back of the previous rod, then pushes the now-longer rod down yet further, and repeats the process, like roughnecks on an oil rig assembling an oil drill shaft.
As each part is screwed together, special pin catches snap together as the male and female threads close, ensuring perfect alignment of the parts, and also preventing inadvertent unthreading. This process continues until it has constructed a depleted uranium rod seven thousand metres long, though also having fins, guidance packages, gyros and monopropellant thrusters on every segment.
The seven kilometre long, 3600 metric ton rod remains attached to Olympus while Olympus reports the completion of its payload construction, which has already been named "Hephestus".
Back on Earth, the leaders of the nation that launched it are informed of the readiness of Olympus and Hephestus. Were they to say 'No', Hephestus would be disassembled and put back into storage, and Olympus' compartments sealed and flooded with inert gas once more, though there would be only a few times that this could be done before the gas ran out, and the mechanims would be at risk of vacuum-welding themselves into a useless lump of junk.
However, the leaders are resolute, and the order is given for Hephestus to be cast down from Olympus... with a specific destination for its fall.
Once released, Hephestus awaits the proper moment, and its multitude of thrusters fire, beginning its descent from orbit. Lasers in each guidance package both communicate with the other rod segments and inform each other of the way Hephestus as a whole is aligned. Any wobbles or bends are gently coaxed back into perfect straightness by varying the thruster output or using the guidance packages' internal gyros, while Hephestus falls to earth.
47 minutes and 36 seconds after Hephestus began its fall, it impacts with the earth, its fins and guidance packages ensuring that it finishes its descent through the atmosphere perfectly vertically and straight, at a velocity of 28 kilometers per second, in the middle of the capitol of an enemy nation, though several hundred metres from the capitol building that had been targeted.
When Hephestus touches the ground, all of the extraneous equipment on its surface has already been ablated away by its rapid passage through the atmosphere. It takes a little over a quarter of a second from the moment of its impact to the moment it vanishes beneath the earth's surface, but it has not stopped, its momentum carrying it downward through the granite bedrock beneath the enemy capitol, which is some 30 kilometers thick just there.
Newton's impact depth approximation states that impact depth is approximately equal to the length of the projectile multiplied by projectile density and divided by target density.
Depleted uranium has a density of 19.1 grams per cubic centimeter, and granite has an average density of around 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter, which means that Hephestus will pass through around 49.5 kilometers of the earth's continental crust before coming to rest.
However, beneath the continental crust is a denser layer of crust about 18 kilometers down, with a density of around 2.9 grams per cubic centimeter, however Hephestus passes through the entire 30 kilometers of crust and continues on to travel some 15 or so kilometers into the yet denser mantle, which has a density of around 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter.
Hephestus' total impact energy is around 1.4x10^15 or 1.4 quadrillion Joules.
Given this background, the question is in two parts:
What would the immediate effects of the impact of Hephestus be on the city surrounding its point of impact?
Considering that 3600 metric tons of depleted uranium has just penetrated all 30 kilometers of the earth's crust and has traveled a further 15 kilometers into the mantle, delivering 1.4x10^15J of energy, is it reasonable to suppose that a volcanic eruption would occur at that point, and if so, how long would it take after impact to occur, and how destructive might it be? I.e. would this setup be able to cause a destructive volcanic eruption on demand?
science-based reality-check volcanoes satellites
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
|
show 1 more comment
The time... a few years from now. On the laser-launch pad of one of the spacefaring nations of Earth, a spacecraft stands, the time until its launch counting down steadily. The launch vehicle weighs 1300 tons but on top there is only a satellite. A big satellite, weighing in at 100 metric tons.
The agency that launches it claims that it is part of an unmanned station intended to study gravity away from the perterbing effects of Earth and its restless crust. However, this is a lie...
The satellite is launched, and takes its place in the sky in a high-earth polar orbit, above geostationary orbit level. Once there, it joins 39 fellow satellites that have previously docked with each other, and docks, forming the last piece of a 4,000 metric ton assembly, the whole codenamed "Olympus". There Olympus stays, seemingly inert save for regular encrypted communication with the launching agency, and occasional orbital corrections.
Then the time comes for the government that launched it to demonstrate its true purpose. An encoded message is sent and received, and the Olympus swings into action.
Until that moment, its internals were protected from the vacuum of space inside sealed capsules filled with an inert gas, and protected from the cold of space by heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels. On receiving the command to begin preparations, the protective atmosphere is vented gently, so as to avoid perterbing Olympus' orbit, and the internal mechanism begins its work.
Olympus is designed to do just one thing... that being to assemble its depleted uranium payload, launched as a collection of long rods. The machinery grabs a depleted uranium rod around an inch thick from its launch cradle, moves it into place, and then another part of the mechanism pushes it almost all the way out of the bottom of the satellite and holds it in place while the first part grabs another rod and screws the thread on its tip into the threaded socket on the back of the previous rod, then pushes the now-longer rod down yet further, and repeats the process, like roughnecks on an oil rig assembling an oil drill shaft.
As each part is screwed together, special pin catches snap together as the male and female threads close, ensuring perfect alignment of the parts, and also preventing inadvertent unthreading. This process continues until it has constructed a depleted uranium rod seven thousand metres long, though also having fins, guidance packages, gyros and monopropellant thrusters on every segment.
The seven kilometre long, 3600 metric ton rod remains attached to Olympus while Olympus reports the completion of its payload construction, which has already been named "Hephestus".
Back on Earth, the leaders of the nation that launched it are informed of the readiness of Olympus and Hephestus. Were they to say 'No', Hephestus would be disassembled and put back into storage, and Olympus' compartments sealed and flooded with inert gas once more, though there would be only a few times that this could be done before the gas ran out, and the mechanims would be at risk of vacuum-welding themselves into a useless lump of junk.
However, the leaders are resolute, and the order is given for Hephestus to be cast down from Olympus... with a specific destination for its fall.
Once released, Hephestus awaits the proper moment, and its multitude of thrusters fire, beginning its descent from orbit. Lasers in each guidance package both communicate with the other rod segments and inform each other of the way Hephestus as a whole is aligned. Any wobbles or bends are gently coaxed back into perfect straightness by varying the thruster output or using the guidance packages' internal gyros, while Hephestus falls to earth.
47 minutes and 36 seconds after Hephestus began its fall, it impacts with the earth, its fins and guidance packages ensuring that it finishes its descent through the atmosphere perfectly vertically and straight, at a velocity of 28 kilometers per second, in the middle of the capitol of an enemy nation, though several hundred metres from the capitol building that had been targeted.
When Hephestus touches the ground, all of the extraneous equipment on its surface has already been ablated away by its rapid passage through the atmosphere. It takes a little over a quarter of a second from the moment of its impact to the moment it vanishes beneath the earth's surface, but it has not stopped, its momentum carrying it downward through the granite bedrock beneath the enemy capitol, which is some 30 kilometers thick just there.
Newton's impact depth approximation states that impact depth is approximately equal to the length of the projectile multiplied by projectile density and divided by target density.
Depleted uranium has a density of 19.1 grams per cubic centimeter, and granite has an average density of around 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter, which means that Hephestus will pass through around 49.5 kilometers of the earth's continental crust before coming to rest.
However, beneath the continental crust is a denser layer of crust about 18 kilometers down, with a density of around 2.9 grams per cubic centimeter, however Hephestus passes through the entire 30 kilometers of crust and continues on to travel some 15 or so kilometers into the yet denser mantle, which has a density of around 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter.
Hephestus' total impact energy is around 1.4x10^15 or 1.4 quadrillion Joules.
Given this background, the question is in two parts:
What would the immediate effects of the impact of Hephestus be on the city surrounding its point of impact?
Considering that 3600 metric tons of depleted uranium has just penetrated all 30 kilometers of the earth's crust and has traveled a further 15 kilometers into the mantle, delivering 1.4x10^15J of energy, is it reasonable to suppose that a volcanic eruption would occur at that point, and if so, how long would it take after impact to occur, and how destructive might it be? I.e. would this setup be able to cause a destructive volcanic eruption on demand?
science-based reality-check volcanoes satellites
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
Minor nitpicks: "heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels" — wouldn't it be more energy efficient just to paint satellite black? "multitude of thrusters fire" this is less fuel efficient than one big thruster. Russians did it but only because they couldn't make single one big enough. Plus, to deorbit something you need almost as much delta V as you need to put it in orbit. You don't seem to account for allthat fuel in your mass assumptions.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
The original Capitol (with an o) is a hill in Rome. The imaginative Americans re-used the name for the hill in Washington, D.C., where they built the buildings for their Congress. By extension, capitol (with a lower-case c) is sometimes used to designate the buildings where the legislative assembly meets. The city where a country's government resides is called the capital (with an a), from the Latin word capitalis which means head (as an adjective), main, principal, most important. As for the 7 km long lithobraking wire, look up buckling.
– AlexP
10 hours ago
@Mołot, in a way, the solar panels are a cover for the system that keeps Olympus' batteries charged. Good point about the deorbit thrusters... However, given Hephestus' length, multiple thrusters would help keep it straight more than having one big thruster would.
– Monty Wild♦
10 hours ago
This weapon of mass destruction can be traced back to the launching nation, so all the undesirable follow-on-effects (sanctions, war, etc) still seem likely to occur. Olympus' builders might find themselves nuked within a few days or weeks...or on trial for the slaughter of a city full of noncombatants if they survive the initial response.
– user535733
8 hours ago
@Mołot: Re de-orbit energy, that's true if you're in a high circular orbit. If you're in a low orbit (or an elliptical one like a lunar return trajectory) you just need enough delta-V to change the orbit enough to intercept the atmosphere - or in this case, the lithosphere.
– jamesqf
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
The time... a few years from now. On the laser-launch pad of one of the spacefaring nations of Earth, a spacecraft stands, the time until its launch counting down steadily. The launch vehicle weighs 1300 tons but on top there is only a satellite. A big satellite, weighing in at 100 metric tons.
The agency that launches it claims that it is part of an unmanned station intended to study gravity away from the perterbing effects of Earth and its restless crust. However, this is a lie...
The satellite is launched, and takes its place in the sky in a high-earth polar orbit, above geostationary orbit level. Once there, it joins 39 fellow satellites that have previously docked with each other, and docks, forming the last piece of a 4,000 metric ton assembly, the whole codenamed "Olympus". There Olympus stays, seemingly inert save for regular encrypted communication with the launching agency, and occasional orbital corrections.
Then the time comes for the government that launched it to demonstrate its true purpose. An encoded message is sent and received, and the Olympus swings into action.
Until that moment, its internals were protected from the vacuum of space inside sealed capsules filled with an inert gas, and protected from the cold of space by heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels. On receiving the command to begin preparations, the protective atmosphere is vented gently, so as to avoid perterbing Olympus' orbit, and the internal mechanism begins its work.
Olympus is designed to do just one thing... that being to assemble its depleted uranium payload, launched as a collection of long rods. The machinery grabs a depleted uranium rod around an inch thick from its launch cradle, moves it into place, and then another part of the mechanism pushes it almost all the way out of the bottom of the satellite and holds it in place while the first part grabs another rod and screws the thread on its tip into the threaded socket on the back of the previous rod, then pushes the now-longer rod down yet further, and repeats the process, like roughnecks on an oil rig assembling an oil drill shaft.
As each part is screwed together, special pin catches snap together as the male and female threads close, ensuring perfect alignment of the parts, and also preventing inadvertent unthreading. This process continues until it has constructed a depleted uranium rod seven thousand metres long, though also having fins, guidance packages, gyros and monopropellant thrusters on every segment.
The seven kilometre long, 3600 metric ton rod remains attached to Olympus while Olympus reports the completion of its payload construction, which has already been named "Hephestus".
Back on Earth, the leaders of the nation that launched it are informed of the readiness of Olympus and Hephestus. Were they to say 'No', Hephestus would be disassembled and put back into storage, and Olympus' compartments sealed and flooded with inert gas once more, though there would be only a few times that this could be done before the gas ran out, and the mechanims would be at risk of vacuum-welding themselves into a useless lump of junk.
However, the leaders are resolute, and the order is given for Hephestus to be cast down from Olympus... with a specific destination for its fall.
Once released, Hephestus awaits the proper moment, and its multitude of thrusters fire, beginning its descent from orbit. Lasers in each guidance package both communicate with the other rod segments and inform each other of the way Hephestus as a whole is aligned. Any wobbles or bends are gently coaxed back into perfect straightness by varying the thruster output or using the guidance packages' internal gyros, while Hephestus falls to earth.
47 minutes and 36 seconds after Hephestus began its fall, it impacts with the earth, its fins and guidance packages ensuring that it finishes its descent through the atmosphere perfectly vertically and straight, at a velocity of 28 kilometers per second, in the middle of the capitol of an enemy nation, though several hundred metres from the capitol building that had been targeted.
When Hephestus touches the ground, all of the extraneous equipment on its surface has already been ablated away by its rapid passage through the atmosphere. It takes a little over a quarter of a second from the moment of its impact to the moment it vanishes beneath the earth's surface, but it has not stopped, its momentum carrying it downward through the granite bedrock beneath the enemy capitol, which is some 30 kilometers thick just there.
Newton's impact depth approximation states that impact depth is approximately equal to the length of the projectile multiplied by projectile density and divided by target density.
Depleted uranium has a density of 19.1 grams per cubic centimeter, and granite has an average density of around 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter, which means that Hephestus will pass through around 49.5 kilometers of the earth's continental crust before coming to rest.
However, beneath the continental crust is a denser layer of crust about 18 kilometers down, with a density of around 2.9 grams per cubic centimeter, however Hephestus passes through the entire 30 kilometers of crust and continues on to travel some 15 or so kilometers into the yet denser mantle, which has a density of around 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter.
Hephestus' total impact energy is around 1.4x10^15 or 1.4 quadrillion Joules.
Given this background, the question is in two parts:
What would the immediate effects of the impact of Hephestus be on the city surrounding its point of impact?
Considering that 3600 metric tons of depleted uranium has just penetrated all 30 kilometers of the earth's crust and has traveled a further 15 kilometers into the mantle, delivering 1.4x10^15J of energy, is it reasonable to suppose that a volcanic eruption would occur at that point, and if so, how long would it take after impact to occur, and how destructive might it be? I.e. would this setup be able to cause a destructive volcanic eruption on demand?
science-based reality-check volcanoes satellites
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
The time... a few years from now. On the laser-launch pad of one of the spacefaring nations of Earth, a spacecraft stands, the time until its launch counting down steadily. The launch vehicle weighs 1300 tons but on top there is only a satellite. A big satellite, weighing in at 100 metric tons.
The agency that launches it claims that it is part of an unmanned station intended to study gravity away from the perterbing effects of Earth and its restless crust. However, this is a lie...
The satellite is launched, and takes its place in the sky in a high-earth polar orbit, above geostationary orbit level. Once there, it joins 39 fellow satellites that have previously docked with each other, and docks, forming the last piece of a 4,000 metric ton assembly, the whole codenamed "Olympus". There Olympus stays, seemingly inert save for regular encrypted communication with the launching agency, and occasional orbital corrections.
Then the time comes for the government that launched it to demonstrate its true purpose. An encoded message is sent and received, and the Olympus swings into action.
Until that moment, its internals were protected from the vacuum of space inside sealed capsules filled with an inert gas, and protected from the cold of space by heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels. On receiving the command to begin preparations, the protective atmosphere is vented gently, so as to avoid perterbing Olympus' orbit, and the internal mechanism begins its work.
Olympus is designed to do just one thing... that being to assemble its depleted uranium payload, launched as a collection of long rods. The machinery grabs a depleted uranium rod around an inch thick from its launch cradle, moves it into place, and then another part of the mechanism pushes it almost all the way out of the bottom of the satellite and holds it in place while the first part grabs another rod and screws the thread on its tip into the threaded socket on the back of the previous rod, then pushes the now-longer rod down yet further, and repeats the process, like roughnecks on an oil rig assembling an oil drill shaft.
As each part is screwed together, special pin catches snap together as the male and female threads close, ensuring perfect alignment of the parts, and also preventing inadvertent unthreading. This process continues until it has constructed a depleted uranium rod seven thousand metres long, though also having fins, guidance packages, gyros and monopropellant thrusters on every segment.
The seven kilometre long, 3600 metric ton rod remains attached to Olympus while Olympus reports the completion of its payload construction, which has already been named "Hephestus".
Back on Earth, the leaders of the nation that launched it are informed of the readiness of Olympus and Hephestus. Were they to say 'No', Hephestus would be disassembled and put back into storage, and Olympus' compartments sealed and flooded with inert gas once more, though there would be only a few times that this could be done before the gas ran out, and the mechanims would be at risk of vacuum-welding themselves into a useless lump of junk.
However, the leaders are resolute, and the order is given for Hephestus to be cast down from Olympus... with a specific destination for its fall.
Once released, Hephestus awaits the proper moment, and its multitude of thrusters fire, beginning its descent from orbit. Lasers in each guidance package both communicate with the other rod segments and inform each other of the way Hephestus as a whole is aligned. Any wobbles or bends are gently coaxed back into perfect straightness by varying the thruster output or using the guidance packages' internal gyros, while Hephestus falls to earth.
47 minutes and 36 seconds after Hephestus began its fall, it impacts with the earth, its fins and guidance packages ensuring that it finishes its descent through the atmosphere perfectly vertically and straight, at a velocity of 28 kilometers per second, in the middle of the capitol of an enemy nation, though several hundred metres from the capitol building that had been targeted.
When Hephestus touches the ground, all of the extraneous equipment on its surface has already been ablated away by its rapid passage through the atmosphere. It takes a little over a quarter of a second from the moment of its impact to the moment it vanishes beneath the earth's surface, but it has not stopped, its momentum carrying it downward through the granite bedrock beneath the enemy capitol, which is some 30 kilometers thick just there.
Newton's impact depth approximation states that impact depth is approximately equal to the length of the projectile multiplied by projectile density and divided by target density.
Depleted uranium has a density of 19.1 grams per cubic centimeter, and granite has an average density of around 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter, which means that Hephestus will pass through around 49.5 kilometers of the earth's continental crust before coming to rest.
However, beneath the continental crust is a denser layer of crust about 18 kilometers down, with a density of around 2.9 grams per cubic centimeter, however Hephestus passes through the entire 30 kilometers of crust and continues on to travel some 15 or so kilometers into the yet denser mantle, which has a density of around 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter.
Hephestus' total impact energy is around 1.4x10^15 or 1.4 quadrillion Joules.
Given this background, the question is in two parts:
What would the immediate effects of the impact of Hephestus be on the city surrounding its point of impact?
Considering that 3600 metric tons of depleted uranium has just penetrated all 30 kilometers of the earth's crust and has traveled a further 15 kilometers into the mantle, delivering 1.4x10^15J of energy, is it reasonable to suppose that a volcanic eruption would occur at that point, and if so, how long would it take after impact to occur, and how destructive might it be? I.e. would this setup be able to cause a destructive volcanic eruption on demand?
science-based reality-check volcanoes satellites
science-based reality-check volcanoes satellites
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
asked 10 hours ago
Monty Wild♦
23.7k360145
23.7k360145
Minor nitpicks: "heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels" — wouldn't it be more energy efficient just to paint satellite black? "multitude of thrusters fire" this is less fuel efficient than one big thruster. Russians did it but only because they couldn't make single one big enough. Plus, to deorbit something you need almost as much delta V as you need to put it in orbit. You don't seem to account for allthat fuel in your mass assumptions.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
The original Capitol (with an o) is a hill in Rome. The imaginative Americans re-used the name for the hill in Washington, D.C., where they built the buildings for their Congress. By extension, capitol (with a lower-case c) is sometimes used to designate the buildings where the legislative assembly meets. The city where a country's government resides is called the capital (with an a), from the Latin word capitalis which means head (as an adjective), main, principal, most important. As for the 7 km long lithobraking wire, look up buckling.
– AlexP
10 hours ago
@Mołot, in a way, the solar panels are a cover for the system that keeps Olympus' batteries charged. Good point about the deorbit thrusters... However, given Hephestus' length, multiple thrusters would help keep it straight more than having one big thruster would.
– Monty Wild♦
10 hours ago
This weapon of mass destruction can be traced back to the launching nation, so all the undesirable follow-on-effects (sanctions, war, etc) still seem likely to occur. Olympus' builders might find themselves nuked within a few days or weeks...or on trial for the slaughter of a city full of noncombatants if they survive the initial response.
– user535733
8 hours ago
@Mołot: Re de-orbit energy, that's true if you're in a high circular orbit. If you're in a low orbit (or an elliptical one like a lunar return trajectory) you just need enough delta-V to change the orbit enough to intercept the atmosphere - or in this case, the lithosphere.
– jamesqf
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
Minor nitpicks: "heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels" — wouldn't it be more energy efficient just to paint satellite black? "multitude of thrusters fire" this is less fuel efficient than one big thruster. Russians did it but only because they couldn't make single one big enough. Plus, to deorbit something you need almost as much delta V as you need to put it in orbit. You don't seem to account for allthat fuel in your mass assumptions.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
The original Capitol (with an o) is a hill in Rome. The imaginative Americans re-used the name for the hill in Washington, D.C., where they built the buildings for their Congress. By extension, capitol (with a lower-case c) is sometimes used to designate the buildings where the legislative assembly meets. The city where a country's government resides is called the capital (with an a), from the Latin word capitalis which means head (as an adjective), main, principal, most important. As for the 7 km long lithobraking wire, look up buckling.
– AlexP
10 hours ago
@Mołot, in a way, the solar panels are a cover for the system that keeps Olympus' batteries charged. Good point about the deorbit thrusters... However, given Hephestus' length, multiple thrusters would help keep it straight more than having one big thruster would.
– Monty Wild♦
10 hours ago
This weapon of mass destruction can be traced back to the launching nation, so all the undesirable follow-on-effects (sanctions, war, etc) still seem likely to occur. Olympus' builders might find themselves nuked within a few days or weeks...or on trial for the slaughter of a city full of noncombatants if they survive the initial response.
– user535733
8 hours ago
@Mołot: Re de-orbit energy, that's true if you're in a high circular orbit. If you're in a low orbit (or an elliptical one like a lunar return trajectory) you just need enough delta-V to change the orbit enough to intercept the atmosphere - or in this case, the lithosphere.
– jamesqf
8 hours ago
Minor nitpicks: "heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels" — wouldn't it be more energy efficient just to paint satellite black? "multitude of thrusters fire" this is less fuel efficient than one big thruster. Russians did it but only because they couldn't make single one big enough. Plus, to deorbit something you need almost as much delta V as you need to put it in orbit. You don't seem to account for allthat fuel in your mass assumptions.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
Minor nitpicks: "heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels" — wouldn't it be more energy efficient just to paint satellite black? "multitude of thrusters fire" this is less fuel efficient than one big thruster. Russians did it but only because they couldn't make single one big enough. Plus, to deorbit something you need almost as much delta V as you need to put it in orbit. You don't seem to account for allthat fuel in your mass assumptions.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
1
The original Capitol (with an o) is a hill in Rome. The imaginative Americans re-used the name for the hill in Washington, D.C., where they built the buildings for their Congress. By extension, capitol (with a lower-case c) is sometimes used to designate the buildings where the legislative assembly meets. The city where a country's government resides is called the capital (with an a), from the Latin word capitalis which means head (as an adjective), main, principal, most important. As for the 7 km long lithobraking wire, look up buckling.
– AlexP
10 hours ago
The original Capitol (with an o) is a hill in Rome. The imaginative Americans re-used the name for the hill in Washington, D.C., where they built the buildings for their Congress. By extension, capitol (with a lower-case c) is sometimes used to designate the buildings where the legislative assembly meets. The city where a country's government resides is called the capital (with an a), from the Latin word capitalis which means head (as an adjective), main, principal, most important. As for the 7 km long lithobraking wire, look up buckling.
– AlexP
10 hours ago
@Mołot, in a way, the solar panels are a cover for the system that keeps Olympus' batteries charged. Good point about the deorbit thrusters... However, given Hephestus' length, multiple thrusters would help keep it straight more than having one big thruster would.
– Monty Wild♦
10 hours ago
@Mołot, in a way, the solar panels are a cover for the system that keeps Olympus' batteries charged. Good point about the deorbit thrusters... However, given Hephestus' length, multiple thrusters would help keep it straight more than having one big thruster would.
– Monty Wild♦
10 hours ago
This weapon of mass destruction can be traced back to the launching nation, so all the undesirable follow-on-effects (sanctions, war, etc) still seem likely to occur. Olympus' builders might find themselves nuked within a few days or weeks...or on trial for the slaughter of a city full of noncombatants if they survive the initial response.
– user535733
8 hours ago
This weapon of mass destruction can be traced back to the launching nation, so all the undesirable follow-on-effects (sanctions, war, etc) still seem likely to occur. Olympus' builders might find themselves nuked within a few days or weeks...or on trial for the slaughter of a city full of noncombatants if they survive the initial response.
– user535733
8 hours ago
@Mołot: Re de-orbit energy, that's true if you're in a high circular orbit. If you're in a low orbit (or an elliptical one like a lunar return trajectory) you just need enough delta-V to change the orbit enough to intercept the atmosphere - or in this case, the lithosphere.
– jamesqf
8 hours ago
@Mołot: Re de-orbit energy, that's true if you're in a high circular orbit. If you're in a low orbit (or an elliptical one like a lunar return trajectory) you just need enough delta-V to change the orbit enough to intercept the atmosphere - or in this case, the lithosphere.
– jamesqf
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
1 Answer
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Let's take a look at some facts about space flight as of today:
The completed International Space Station weighs about 450 tons and cost 150 billions USD to build, shared between many countries and over more than a decade. The US, one of the richest nation of today's if not the richest, couldn't have built it alone,
Sending 1 kg of matter into space will cost you about 10.000 USD,
Trying to gather that much uranium and launch it into orbit would undoubtedly be noticed by many agencies from many nations who are keeping a close watch on radioactive material,
Sending radioactive materials into space or into orbit is heavily frowned upon by almost everyone due to the potential risks if something goes wrong. Imagine that the rocket explodes on the launch pad or at low altitude for some reason, it will be spreading radioactive materials all over the area, poisoning it for a long time.
Given how science is underfunded at the moment and has to come up with creative ways to continue to perform their experiments in space, miniaturizing everything they can to save on the cost on sending anything up in space, nobody would believe the explanation.
In summary, this idea is unrealistic and unfeasible. It would bankrupt the nation who tried to it early during preparation, and have the whole of Earth bear down upon them once news leaks out to other governments, and it would leak out one way or another.
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
1
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
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Let's take a look at some facts about space flight as of today:
The completed International Space Station weighs about 450 tons and cost 150 billions USD to build, shared between many countries and over more than a decade. The US, one of the richest nation of today's if not the richest, couldn't have built it alone,
Sending 1 kg of matter into space will cost you about 10.000 USD,
Trying to gather that much uranium and launch it into orbit would undoubtedly be noticed by many agencies from many nations who are keeping a close watch on radioactive material,
Sending radioactive materials into space or into orbit is heavily frowned upon by almost everyone due to the potential risks if something goes wrong. Imagine that the rocket explodes on the launch pad or at low altitude for some reason, it will be spreading radioactive materials all over the area, poisoning it for a long time.
Given how science is underfunded at the moment and has to come up with creative ways to continue to perform their experiments in space, miniaturizing everything they can to save on the cost on sending anything up in space, nobody would believe the explanation.
In summary, this idea is unrealistic and unfeasible. It would bankrupt the nation who tried to it early during preparation, and have the whole of Earth bear down upon them once news leaks out to other governments, and it would leak out one way or another.
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
1
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
Let's take a look at some facts about space flight as of today:
The completed International Space Station weighs about 450 tons and cost 150 billions USD to build, shared between many countries and over more than a decade. The US, one of the richest nation of today's if not the richest, couldn't have built it alone,
Sending 1 kg of matter into space will cost you about 10.000 USD,
Trying to gather that much uranium and launch it into orbit would undoubtedly be noticed by many agencies from many nations who are keeping a close watch on radioactive material,
Sending radioactive materials into space or into orbit is heavily frowned upon by almost everyone due to the potential risks if something goes wrong. Imagine that the rocket explodes on the launch pad or at low altitude for some reason, it will be spreading radioactive materials all over the area, poisoning it for a long time.
Given how science is underfunded at the moment and has to come up with creative ways to continue to perform their experiments in space, miniaturizing everything they can to save on the cost on sending anything up in space, nobody would believe the explanation.
In summary, this idea is unrealistic and unfeasible. It would bankrupt the nation who tried to it early during preparation, and have the whole of Earth bear down upon them once news leaks out to other governments, and it would leak out one way or another.
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
1
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
Let's take a look at some facts about space flight as of today:
The completed International Space Station weighs about 450 tons and cost 150 billions USD to build, shared between many countries and over more than a decade. The US, one of the richest nation of today's if not the richest, couldn't have built it alone,
Sending 1 kg of matter into space will cost you about 10.000 USD,
Trying to gather that much uranium and launch it into orbit would undoubtedly be noticed by many agencies from many nations who are keeping a close watch on radioactive material,
Sending radioactive materials into space or into orbit is heavily frowned upon by almost everyone due to the potential risks if something goes wrong. Imagine that the rocket explodes on the launch pad or at low altitude for some reason, it will be spreading radioactive materials all over the area, poisoning it for a long time.
Given how science is underfunded at the moment and has to come up with creative ways to continue to perform their experiments in space, miniaturizing everything they can to save on the cost on sending anything up in space, nobody would believe the explanation.
In summary, this idea is unrealistic and unfeasible. It would bankrupt the nation who tried to it early during preparation, and have the whole of Earth bear down upon them once news leaks out to other governments, and it would leak out one way or another.
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
Let's take a look at some facts about space flight as of today:
The completed International Space Station weighs about 450 tons and cost 150 billions USD to build, shared between many countries and over more than a decade. The US, one of the richest nation of today's if not the richest, couldn't have built it alone,
Sending 1 kg of matter into space will cost you about 10.000 USD,
Trying to gather that much uranium and launch it into orbit would undoubtedly be noticed by many agencies from many nations who are keeping a close watch on radioactive material,
Sending radioactive materials into space or into orbit is heavily frowned upon by almost everyone due to the potential risks if something goes wrong. Imagine that the rocket explodes on the launch pad or at low altitude for some reason, it will be spreading radioactive materials all over the area, poisoning it for a long time.
Given how science is underfunded at the moment and has to come up with creative ways to continue to perform their experiments in space, miniaturizing everything they can to save on the cost on sending anything up in space, nobody would believe the explanation.
In summary, this idea is unrealistic and unfeasible. It would bankrupt the nation who tried to it early during preparation, and have the whole of Earth bear down upon them once news leaks out to other governments, and it would leak out one way or another.
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
edited 9 hours ago
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
answered 10 hours ago
Sava
1,2711321
1,2711321
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
1
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
1
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
Sending radioactive materials — but depleted uranium is hardly radioactive.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
1
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
@AlexP You're right, I had my calculations wrong. Removed that bit from my answer.
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
1
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
DU isn't radioactive, but it is the byproduct of enrichment (the fissile U-235 has been extracted, hence the "depleted" part). That amount of enrichment activity is most certainly going to be noticed by a multitude of agencies around the planet who's job is to monitor the production and use of fissile materials.
– Thucydides
9 hours ago
1
1
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
@Thucydides DU is radioactive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
– Sava
9 hours ago
1
1
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
@jamesqf No, they couldn't. The USA doesn't have 150 billions USD lying around and ready to be dumped into the ISS. Nasa's budget was 19.5billion USD for 2017 and has been eroding little by little for decades. I will agree that there was also a huge diplomatic and political component to the decision to make it international.
– Sava
7 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
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Minor nitpicks: "heaters powered by the satellite's solar panels" — wouldn't it be more energy efficient just to paint satellite black? "multitude of thrusters fire" this is less fuel efficient than one big thruster. Russians did it but only because they couldn't make single one big enough. Plus, to deorbit something you need almost as much delta V as you need to put it in orbit. You don't seem to account for allthat fuel in your mass assumptions.
– Mołot
10 hours ago
1
The original Capitol (with an o) is a hill in Rome. The imaginative Americans re-used the name for the hill in Washington, D.C., where they built the buildings for their Congress. By extension, capitol (with a lower-case c) is sometimes used to designate the buildings where the legislative assembly meets. The city where a country's government resides is called the capital (with an a), from the Latin word capitalis which means head (as an adjective), main, principal, most important. As for the 7 km long lithobraking wire, look up buckling.
– AlexP
10 hours ago
@Mołot, in a way, the solar panels are a cover for the system that keeps Olympus' batteries charged. Good point about the deorbit thrusters... However, given Hephestus' length, multiple thrusters would help keep it straight more than having one big thruster would.
– Monty Wild♦
10 hours ago
This weapon of mass destruction can be traced back to the launching nation, so all the undesirable follow-on-effects (sanctions, war, etc) still seem likely to occur. Olympus' builders might find themselves nuked within a few days or weeks...or on trial for the slaughter of a city full of noncombatants if they survive the initial response.
– user535733
8 hours ago
@Mołot: Re de-orbit energy, that's true if you're in a high circular orbit. If you're in a low orbit (or an elliptical one like a lunar return trajectory) you just need enough delta-V to change the orbit enough to intercept the atmosphere - or in this case, the lithosphere.
– jamesqf
8 hours ago