The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: SPQR on February 06, 2014, 06:23:16 am
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by UK Mail.com
A giant 45 foot cannon so powerful it could launch satellites into space has been revealed by a Canadian inventor.
Richard Graf hopes his design, which has a specially developed bore than continually increases the speed of the satellite.
Graf believes it could even lead to giant cannons 150 feet long to launch bigger objects.
'Have you ever wanted to fly something into space but you thought that it was too expensive or too complicated to do it yourself ?' he says on the Kickstarter page for the project.
'I used to think that way too, and then I invented the Starfire space cannon.'
Graf decided to redesign the traditional cannon for his space cannon.
The Starfire gun is an 8” bore by 45 foot long multi-chambered artillery piece that has been custom designed to fire payloads into space.
'The problem with a conventional gun as a space launcher is that it has one big propellant charge and when that charge is fired it produces a very high pressure spike, often 50,000 to 60,000 PSI which drops off rapidly as the projectile travels down the bore,' said Graf
The Starfire space cannon breaks the propellant charge down into a number of smaller increments.
These increments are ignited sequentially as the vehicle travels down the 8 inch bore.
This gives you much lower pressures and much lower G loadings.
the longer the barrel the more efficient the system becomes, claims its inventor.
'These high pressures place high G loadings on a payload, often tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of G’s.
Launching at high G’s may be OK for simple payloads such as fuel or construction materials but it is not much good for launching payloads that are useful for the average person.'
Graf's invention breaks the propellant charge down into a number of smaller increments.
These increments are ignited sequentially as the vehicle travels down the bore, resulting in much lower pressures and much lower G loadings.
'One interesting aspect of this technology is that the longer the barrel the more efficient the system becomes,' Graff said.
'The Starfire gun has been limited to 45’ only because of the need to keep it road mobile, but with this technology a barrel twice or even three times as long would be practical.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2552469/Could-satellites-launched-CANNON-Canadian-inventor-believes-trying-raise-65-000-prove-it.html
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an 8 inch diameter doesn't seem sufficient to accommodate most payloads people typically want to send into space.
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seems as though the explosive immediate acceleration could be problematic for a satellite even with an extended barrel. A rocket takes miles to spool up
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It's been done before, of sorts. In Jules Verne's Round the Moon. Of course, in JV's fantasy, it was three men and two dogs that were fired up to the moon in a projectile shot by a 900 ft. monster canon.
"Suddenly, a dreadful shock is felt, and the projectile, shot by the instantaneous development of 200,000 millions of cubic feet of gas, is flying into space with inconceivable rapidity!"
Verne, a Frenchman, wrote Round the Moon in 1863, while the Civil War was still raging in the United States and it was as yet by no means certain that the Confederate states would not gain their independence from the federal union. However, Verne places his story in a United States where the war is over and the union has been preserved.
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Wasn't there a feasibility study into a nuclear cannon for space launches?
The nukes weren't used directly, but to instantly flash millions of gallons of water into steam as the propellant.
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Dr. Gerald Bull through his HARP program proved that it could be possible to launch satellites into orbit using cannons.Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns. (Very large long range guns capable of shooting more than 100 Miles.).In the mid-1980's he was contracted by the nation of Iraq to construct a satellite launching gun system
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Adds a whole new meaning to "Short" and "Over".
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Adds a whole new meaning to "Short" and "Over".
The V-3 Pressure Pump Gun had promise. V-3 was a 130 meter long gun barrol where a 150 mm. grenade was sent through. The grenade was equipped with fins and recalled a small rocket, but without propelling charge. A number of additional detonators along the sides of the gun tube, increased muzzle velocity to1,550 m / sec and thus the range up to 165 km.The plan was to have 25 guns.. Because of their greater suitability and ease of use, solid-fuel rocket boosters were used instead of explosive charges. I think that he will make it. Dr, Gerald Bull in his design had solid propellant added to the projectile.
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Wasn't there a feasibility study into a nuclear cannon for space launches?
The nukes weren't used directly, but to instantly flash millions of gallons of water into steam as the propellant.
Are you thinking of Project Orion?? It used atomic bombs detonated under an impulse plate to provide propulsion for the spacecraft. It used steam for reaction controls. The only problem is that it would have required hundreds of megatons of atmospheric nuclear detonations just to get the damned thing up into orbit....
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Are you thinking of Project Orion?? It used atomic bombs detonated under an impulse plate to provide propulsion for the spacecraft. It used steam for reaction controls. The only problem is that it would have required hundreds of megatons of atmospheric nuclear detonations just to get the damned thing up into orbit....
No - not Orion. This one was an underground cannon. The payload was slotted into a capsule above a million or so gallons of water, then a nuke would be set off, flashing the water to steam instantly and providing thrust. Really wish I could find it again - I wrote about it in an article about unconventional ways of reaching space. Unfortunately, my back up drive broke, and that had the only copy.
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Are you thinking of Project Orion?? It used atomic bombs detonated under an impulse plate to provide propulsion for the spacecraft. It used steam for reaction controls. The only problem is that it would have required hundreds of megatons of atmospheric nuclear detonations just to get the damned thing up into orbit....
That was used in a science fiction book, but I'll be darned if I can remember the title or the author right now.
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That was used in a science fiction book, but I'll be darned if I can remember the title or the author right now.
Dammit - I have read that one. I want to say Fred Pohl was the author, but not 100% on that.
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Larry Niven - Footfall.
Knew I'd remember eventually. :beer:
Or were you thinking of Vinge's Marooned in Real Time?