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Instead of the next billion dollar war machine, let's build a railgun on the moon to launch tic-tac sized probes near 1% speed of light in all directions (inclu
by ck2 2y ago
Instead of the next billion dollar war machine, let's build a railgun on the moon to launch tic-tac sized probes near 1% speed of light in all directions (including past voyager 1)
- citizenpaul 2y agoGreat idea probably not feasable. The military even with their effectivly unlimited budget recently ended their rail gun programs. One of the main reasons being they require too much maintenance/unreliable. I doubt the moon will be a place that can have effective repair trips.
- ck2 2y agoThey can build it using bots. Develop the bots in the deserts. If they can make them move about and assemble/repair things in a desert, they can handle moon dust. Granted it's at least a decade long project. But once we've got the bots with AI, they never get tired and can keep building. Alternately I guess we can slingshot stuff off the sun like the Parker Probe (0.06% speed of light, it's a start)
- richk449 2y agoGreat plan. Highly robust autonomous robots that build weapons by themselves.
- Muromec 2y agoSpace tech is byproduct of military research into ICBM, i.e. nuking the hell out of everyone all at once. Since the cold war end, it's all defunded and not cool. Now the hype is back, so is the funding.