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But what says ICBM tech can't be adapted to simply turn slightly while re-entering? Mostly the letter "B" for "ballistic". You can turn while flying. You can'
by hugh3 15y ago
But what says ICBM tech can't be adapted to simply turn slightly while re-entering?
Mostly the letter "B" for "ballistic".
You can turn while flying. You can't turn while falling. You can stick out a little control vane to try to change course a little bit, but at that sort of speed, in that sort of atmospheric density, and bearing in mind that during re-entry anything that is at all pointy will get burned off, I doubt you could do much at all.
- Groxx 15y agoHence adapted, and referring to the tech, not the object. Making a ballistic missile not-ballistic makes it into something else. That this was a "plane" is inconsequential, and not even interesting, in terms of missiles - that they had at least minimal control at that speed is either a breakthrough, or duplication of existing techniques that can be applied to big-ass missiles (there, swap the B with "Big") more easily and more cheaply than to something designed to be re-used. Which, given the difficulty in adding controllable movement at such speeds to something way more complex than a one-use missile, implies to me that the techniques have existed for a while in cheaper forms, and this is just the first time they've been able to do it and (nearly) recover the device. That's significant, but it's not a game-changer for missiles or making things go boom.
- arethuza 15y agoManeuverable RVs have been flight tested - notably the US AMaRV.
- burgerbrain 15y agoOf course you can turn while falling. Hell, you can turn without air. It's a rocket.
- hugh3 15y agoOf course you can turn while falling. Hell, you can turn without air. It's a rocket Ah, but then you're no longer falling. You're not even "falling with style".