>can put 150 tons into orbit when reusable. >up to 300 tons expendable

>can put 150 tons into orbit when reusable
>up to 300 tons expendable

How would you build a weapons platform for space that could utilize all that mass?

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  1. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Slinging rocks into rocks. Saturns got some moons it probably doesn't need.

  2. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    >get a big fricking rock, load it into the rocket
    >send the rocket on a ballistic trajectory into your house
    >it re-enters
    >rocket disentegrates
    >rock continues on, destroying your house with the force of a large nuclear bomb

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      you would need some sort of an orbital railgun for that

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      In my town people pay a particular local crackhead to destroy a house.
      He just sets them on fire I believe. It's probably a bit less pricey.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      >large nuclear bomb
      the energy of the rock will be a fraction of the energy to launch it. And even if you lit that rocket up all at once that's nowhere near close to a nuke

  3. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    use it to assemble Project Orion in orbit.
    maybe also stick a few on the side to taxi it out of global EMP range if I'm feeling nice

  4. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    mass sat constellations like that starlink going into the tens of thousands. Only equipped with a cheap interceptor and detection network for discovering and attacking ICBMs when they are still accelerating out of the atmosphere. hit them before they can even stage properly. Now this still will not stop anything flying inside the atmosphere like cruise missiles but it sure as shit will come a long way in countering the nook immunity certain shitbirds have right now

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Anon isn't saying it but for the newfriends this is Brilliant Pebbles, a surprisingly reasonable ICBM defense proposal that was seriously investigated by the SDI (when you hear boomers whine about Reagan and his "Star Wars" this is what they're talking about) but not pursued because of lack of launch capability and the SDI itself being trashed.

      If Musk wanted to LARP as a sinophile while simultaneously building a literally perfect ICBM defense system, Starlink is exactly what he'd do.

      Probably just dropping tactical nuclear payloads from orbit with carefully calculated trajectories for land targets. Just standard ICBM missiles to launch from outer space.

      Think bigger anon, picture low altitude spy satellites that have the normal high Isp motor for normal tasks but also have a number of solid rocket boosters for quick and violent trajectory change when they're shot at. Imagine a satellite detecting an SM-3 launched at it and then violently jinking out of the way at the last possible moment.

      Hell, imagine a satellite in a very high eccentricity orbit, periapsis low for obvious reasons, apoapsis near GEO. When it wants to kill a satellite it gets relatively close then shoots a kill vehicle at like 10 km/s directly at the target. Imagine how difficult it would be to detect or dodge this. On demand killing of GPS satellites.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Yeah the same principle as a drone grenade with a downward facing rocked could handle a decent altitude, not just satellites but aircraft as well.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        >starlink is brilliant pebbles
        insane cope. space is huge and LEO is really really fast. you'd need a fricking insane propulsion system, both in terms of ISP and thrust, to intercept an ICBM using something in orbit. or literally cover it with projectiles spaced at intervals of a few kilometers (starlink is at hundreds of km)

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          Anon, Starshield is a thing and you're actually delusional if you think USSF isn't going to strap high thrust rockets to them and put them on orbit. The appeal isn't to kill MRBMs, it's to kill ICBMs using a FOBS trajectory.

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            >high thrust rockets
            Not enough. You need fantasy anitmatter torchship shit to make normal corrections to orbits with deviations measured in hundreds of km, in the time it takes an ICBM to get out of its boost phase. To do this shit with chemical rockets essentially requires you to put a mini ABM or something equivalent, with both insane thrust and a sufficiently high mass ratio, into orbit. And if the intervals between the satellites are not sufficiently short, you simply can't do it because any viable intercept path would intersect the lower atmosphere or the planet itself. At that point you'd need fricking torch drives from the Expanse to go the long way around, accelerating at many hundreds of Gs the whole way.
            >delusional
            YOU are delusional. You are ignoring physical reality, as well as actual claims and reports available to the public, and insist a system that cannot exist, exists.

            Starlink satellites have anemic Hall thrusters for propulsion. Great ISP, but they take forever to make orbital corrections of the scale required to go off track and hit an ascending ICBM. By the time you've adjusted your orbit enough to intersect the ascent path several orbits would've passed and several cities would've been glassed by that very same missile.

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              >the idea was around
              I had the idea of fricking your mom last night. What is it worth?
              >possible
              Yeah, if they littered LEO with literally hundreds of thousands of satellites, each with the mass ratio of a long range SAM/ABM and a high thrust rocket engine.

              Not with starlink sats that only have electric propulsion and nowhere near the same coverage.

              >anon goes into thread about Starship and it's high payload mass and more importantly volume
              >anon sees people mentioning Brilliant Pebbles
              >anon immediately concludes that Starlink, the civilian system that weighs 200 kg per satellite and takes weeks to get into operational orbits, will also be used for ICBM interception
              >anon has a fit about something that nobody said
              Surprisingly many such cases.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                > secret system with civilian cover project
                > public specs on civilian cover project powerpoint don't allow secret function
                > thus no secret function with secret specs is there
                only moron can beat even more moroniced

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                Look, I'm the one calling the "REEEEEE SPACE WARS" moron a moron, but if you're going to make up stupid shit about Starlink please try to prove it. Post a single satellite released during a Starlink mission that has enough Delta V to do intercepts feasibly.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                >during a Starlink
                Why would it go at intercept velocities during this? Do you even realize what you're claiming. If it's secret it's secret. At best you could find odd underutilisation of falcons payload capacity. But that could be masked as simply as showing a bunch of fake aerogel filled ride share cubesats on it.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                >At best you could find odd underutilisation of falcons payload capacity.
                Starlink doesn't max out F9's payload though. It's volume constrained.

                >But that could be masked as simply as showing a bunch of fake aerogel filled ride share cubesats on it.
                Alright, in that case please point us to the non functional Starlink satellites released during a mission and point us to the satellite released on the same mission that is something stupid like 75% propellant.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          it can, however, be adapted into a very effective missile surveillance grid just by adding some IR cameras given the low orbit and vast launch capacity. i believe there were talks to contract it for that at one point.

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            The laser starlinks (basically all of them for the last year or so and all of them going forward) have several IR cameras on them. Ostensibly for satellite to satellite laser transmission, but the hardware doesn’t have to be single use.

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              I'm gonna say they're dual use and already doing it then. no reason to broadcast it if you don't have to

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          the idea was already possible in the 80s, they just never followed through with the funding moron

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            >the idea was around
            I had the idea of fricking your mom last night. What is it worth?
            >possible
            Yeah, if they littered LEO with literally hundreds of thousands of satellites, each with the mass ratio of a long range SAM/ABM and a high thrust rocket engine.

            Not with starlink sats that only have electric propulsion and nowhere near the same coverage.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          >you'd need a fricking insane propulsion system, both in terms of ISP and thrust, to intercept an ICBM using something in orbit.
          Anon read brilliant pebbles papers. There are public papers in the web. They supposed to have like 4 km/s ISP. Keep it lean, small payoload, big fuel tank. From the engineering standpoint it is possible

          Largest weak link of Brilliant Pebbles today is development of laser makes very vulnerable to ground/plane/ship based lasers. And countering those lasers is quiet difficult.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      artist? I've seen his shit before and like it.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Maciej Rebisz, Ex Senior Concept Artist at CD Projekt RED

  5. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Mark 41 self defense length VLS cells fit. You can quadpack ESSM (Evolved Space Sparrow Missile) on Starship.

  6. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Hannah Donaldson, there's already a thread on her OP.

  7. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Probably just dropping tactical nuclear payloads from orbit with carefully calculated trajectories for land targets. Just standard ICBM missiles to launch from outer space.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      There was a nuclear weapons test in outer space called Starfish Prime. Picrel is the nuclear test as observed from the coast of Hawaii at night.

      Here is the nuclear test:

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        >Picrel is the nuclear test as observed from the coast of Hawaii at night.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          >Picrel is Elvis Presley as observed from Hawaii at night

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            >Picrel is the Pearl Harbor memorial, the only state to be directly attacked

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              There were Japanese firebombs in the Oregon state forest, but not any other direct attacks like Pearl Harbor.

              >On September 9, 1942, a Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on an Oregon state forest—the first air attack on the U.S. mainland in the war. Launching from the Japanese sub I-25, Nobuo Fujita piloted his light aircraft over the state of Oregon and firebombed Mount Emily, alighting a state forest.

              The mainland had a forest fire attack, but people do forget this happened.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                instead of bombing anything worthwhile, they decided to troll forest rangers. fricking based

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                It could have killed people, they would have invaded the mainland and people would have fought back with guns. The suicide attacks on Hawaii could have happened to Seattle or San Francisco or Los Angeles.

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              Alaska was literally invaded.

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              Hawaii wasn't a state then.

  8. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    RODS
    FROM
    GOD

  9. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Could you just launch kinetic penetrator bombs? Like sabot, but with guiding fins and accelerated by gravity.
    Nukes are probably more efficient but imagine being obliterated by a huge frickoff arrow from space.

  10. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    >set up jupiter colony
    >picrel.exe
    >do whatever you want including supporting your earth representatives
    >there ZERO actions any earth-bound adversary can take
    >keep them forever earth-bound
    >develop all new stuff off-planet
    >you're adversaries are effectively stuck in middle age gravity pit

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      This is the plot of The Expanse. Belters still get BTFO since they have to rely on asteroid mining or the inner planets for basic necessities. The MCRN basically turns into the space gestapo and there isn't much the Belters can do about it.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        >The MCRN basically turns into the space gestapo
        they were built more in the soviet mould when it came to ideological and political control. Mars even had gulag style concentration camp network for undesirables

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        That's why you build MCRN equivalent around Jupiter. You got your private planet systems resources and are much safer away from earth. And we've yet to invent constant propulsion - thus if you're not strategic moron, by the time your enemies realize what's happening you're too far for them to act. E.g. you wan't your core colony set up and be self-sustained before they decide to nuke you on earth. Then you wan't it start producing ships and weapons before their ships arrive etc.

        Putting it as ridiculous fantasy of some billionare that will never work migh actually be a good starting story.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          Mars is minimum 3 months away with anything short of a straight shot nuclear pulse/fusion beast (which trivializes the outer planets as well), and you can actually build a colony there before you have those unlike Jupiter.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      hopefully we can hitch a ride. what's a 50kg autist to a 140 metric ton payload?

  11. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Build a giant swastika space station that orbits the earth because it'd be funny.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      >get a bunch of space-tarps and some dedicated friends
      >swastika-shaped solar eclipse
      >everywhere they look they see swastikas. picrel

  12. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    1. global mesh-net of tens of thousands of disposable satellites. Shoot down a hundred, doesn't matter, they're meant to be replaced constantly.
    2. said mesh-net allows for near-instant (unjamable, because laser) global communication and observation
    3. 150 tons = ~ 200 drones, deployed to your area in 1 hour or your next drone drop is free
    4. operators get to chill in a nice comfy control area on the other side of the planet while they use VR and AI assistance to wipe out any resistance

    All the pieces are already here, it's just a matter of time now.

  13. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    300t of suborbital depleted uranium

  14. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    4 100 mega ton tsar bombas
    On Moscow, LA, Shanghai, Beijing

  15. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    What do you want the weapon platform to do?
    >space to ground
    >space to space
    >anti ballistic missile defense

    space to ground
    >nuclear lance (casaba howitzer in the megaton range)
    >large rods from god (kinetic projectile)
    >missile platform (countries don't like the idea of having missile silos orbiting above them)

    space to space
    >casaba howitzers (shape charged nuclear blast converted into kinetic energy)
    >nukes (have to be detonated very close to target due to nukes kind of sucking in space)
    >lasers (mostly for projectile and missile defense but can be used offensively if you have MW class lasers)
    >missile platform (it's unironically pretty hard to just beat spamming missiles at something)

    anti ballistic missile defense
    >nuclear pumped x-ray laser (detonate a nuke and harness the x-ray radiation to zap incoming missiles)
    >casaba howitzer (haha, nuke goes zoop)
    >solar powered lasers
    >railgun/coilgun (haha, rock goes zoom)

  16. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    I'd launch an enormous constellation of LEO satellites with lidar, radar, and optical cameras that are constantly running AI anomaly detection algorithms. You essentially have an all-seeing spy satellite that can monitor the entire planet.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Furthermore, it's possible for the satellite constellation to guide missiles. You can then mass produce javelin-like missiles that are man portable which can be fired from anywhere and guided by an all-seeing eye in the sky. The priory then in a conflict would be denying your opponent launch capability, then SEAD, at which point they're completely dominated in every respect and the constellation can serve as a tool for occupation.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Yeah best way to utilize large payloads without stepping over "militarization of the spess" red line.
        By tradition recon and communications are ok politically from satellites.

  17. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Make 1000 of them
    Launch them to space, park in orbit around moon, earth, mars, put some spare engines on top of asteroids in asteroid belts, lob them towards Earth's major cities

    Purge the Earthers. Death to Earther. Rise UP, spacers! Only through the death of Earthers, will future of humanity be free.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      TOTAL EARTHER DEATH!

  18. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    you build industrial capacity in orbit and mine asteroids to build anything and not worry about launch limits

  19. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    single warhead nuke, however many gigatons that makes. small country sized initial fireball.

  20. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    You could bring a platoon of Abrams tanks and have enough weight to spare for supplies, fuel and an ice-cream truck.

  21. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Space weapons never made any sense for earth combat.

    If you can somehow put missiles/bombs in space that can be put to practical use for terrestrial combat on Earth, that means you didn't even need to put those missiles/bombs in space to begin with. You could've just easily flung those missiles/bombs the old fashion way for terrestrial Earth combat and spent way less money.

  22. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Rod from God

  23. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    >can
    Well it could if SpaceX could be fricked to build a proper flame trench. Lets wait for at least one successful launch.

  24. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    rods from the gods, obviously
    get with the times, you old people

  25. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Maneuverable space warfare cruisers. Ships capable of defending themselves and going between orbital planes to destroy enemy space assets. You'll also want a Space Force base in orbit to act as a maintenance facility/propellant dump

    "Rods from God" are a stupid idea btw

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      >going between orbital planes
      Good luck with that. You either expend stupid amounts of delta-v or you spend weeks or months to make that maneuver. Not exactly military tier in terms of capability.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        Right now there'd be zero competition. Even if it takes a long time, who's gonna stop them?

        Currently all anti-satellite systems are terrestrial. Either ship or aircraft based. Having an orbital warship that can go around and frick shit up without being on the ground would be a major advantage.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          >Even if it takes a long time, who's gonna stop them?
          Enemies can evade, make slight orbital adjustments, so while you're setting up a specific plane change to maximize efficiency, by the time you get there the whole energy budget allocated might end up being significantly suboptimal. It's a way to inflict attrition to your enemy in a space environment, where delta-v is the limiting factor of each and every space mission.

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            I mean I've played Children of a Dead Earth, the giga-realistic space warfare simulator, this type of warfare is absolutely possible. You can also do stuff like launch missiles from your orbital warship. Sure you can adjust the orbit on your satellite but the space cruiser just needs to get close enough to launch a missile. And that's going to be much easier from space rather than from the ground.

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              Possible doesn't mean economical. Games often oversee logistics, politics, and funding. I'm an aerospace engineer, I've studied orbital mechanics and the space environment enough to know how much of a b***h space is.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                Well, that's fair I suppose. The economics are totally up in the air. But on a purely engineering level the game does its best to simulate everything using physically based calculations and uses this to try and work out what the space warfare meta should be

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                Fun fact: you can't have engineering without economics, without it it's just applied physics, and besides I played with KSP enough to know that a game while fun and realistic is still a game. By the way thanks for the unintentional vidya suggestion. The fact is that a lot of wacky shit is possible because we do have the technology, but the economy just isn't there. For instance: why hauling a cruiser up to whatever orbit instead of placing individual satellites/missiles in some nice far away parking orbits, nice and spread out, ready to reboost towards any orbit you need them to go at a moments notice without the need to move haul around all the extra payload of a whole complement of cruiser plus missiles? In purely economic terms (how much effective ordnance you can put in orbit vs how much payload you're paying to launch) it might very well be a lot more advantageous. Just saying.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Why bother shifting the ship between planes? Slap a small bore railgun on it and let the projectile do the delta-v hungry maneuvering necessary for intercepts for you, you have the mass you need for power generation and heat dissipation.

  26. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    >Set off Kessler Syndrome
    >Watch the world burn.

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