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America's Cold State of war Expiry Star plans never made it into the main computer. Nobody ever had to suss out a weakness in its defense, and nosotros were spared some upstart cosmonaut'south boast referencing the Soviet equivalent of womprats and Ragamuffin's Canyon. But U.Southward. defense planners did at 1 time consider building a giant Death Star-like gun in space as part of the "Star Wars" missile defence force program, equally Warisboring'due south Steve Weintz reminded usa this week amongst the hullaballoo of the opening of The Force Awakens.

In September, the Aerospace Projection Reviews Blog published some fascinating diagrams depicting "Accept Sling," which aerospace historian Scott Lowther described equally "[a] General Electrical blueprint for a gigantic orbital railgun." Have Sling was never congenital, of course. Had it been constructed and proven workable, though, the orbiting projectile platform would have easily been "the biggest gun in the solar organization," Weintz noted.

starwarsrailgun

The enormous space gun wouldn't accept had annihilation remotely approaching the firepower to blow upwards Alderaan. Merely based on the known size of GE's SP-100 reactor, the power plant that would have been used in Have Sling, the designs depict a infinite weapon the size of the International Space Station, per Lowther.

Using pulsed electromagnetic fields to advance conductive projectiles instead of the propellants used past conventional guns, Have Sling could have theoretically fired bullets achieving speeds of 35,000 miles per 60 minutes—to the extent that "a projectile equally small as a tin can of beer could vaporize a hardened warhead," Weintz speculated.

Anybody for witnessing the firepower of this fully armed and operational boxing station?

Aside from the wonder (or horror, depending on your perspective) of Take Sting's potential ballistic chapters, the scuttled project boasts several more intriguing forays into advanced aerospace engineering.

The GE SP-100 reactor can generate 100 kilowatts, Weintz noted, or "enough for 'peacetime' power and station-keeping." Only to generate even more juice for rapid firing of the Have Sting space cannon in battle situations, developers were apparently planning on installing a turbogenerator capable of producing "equally much as ninety megawatts" or "more than twice the generating capacity of America's futuristic Zumwalt-class destroyer."

Ane potential weak link in the operation of Have Sting would have been refueling logistics. The weapons platform calls for shielded, refrigerated liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen stores for its turbogenerator, which would need replenishing — particularly when the railgun was being fired ofttimes. Expensive but not out-of-the-ordinary during peacetime, but such orbital refueling trips could bear witness "challenging" during a "Globe War Iii" scenario, Weintz conjectured.

Ane element of Take Sting's specs, which nosotros know next to nothing about, is its proposed targeting system, which are commonly kept secret in "[m]ost publicized 'Star Wars' concept illustrations," according to Weintz.

"Sensor systems on this calibration are virtually never depicted in artwork, yet they would be needed. The targets would be fast-moving, very small and thousands of miles abroad," wrote Lowther, who has filed a FOIA request for more than details on Have Sting, merely doesn't look much more to exist divulged.