Author Topic: Congressional candidate: Moon-colonizing companies could destroy cities by dropping rocks  (Read 10076 times)

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Offline Cripplecreek

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"Brianna Wu" is an avowed mentally ill nutcase, not just your regular nutter

Its elite nutbaggery.

geronl

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For reference, a 1000 kg rock traveling at the speed of Apollo 13 (~40,000 kph) has the energy of about 1.5 tons of TNT.  You'd need a mass of 5000 kg to reach 1 kT.

If you dropped Brianna Wu from orbit, he/she/it would likely be able to take out a Wal-Mart

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Its elite nutbaggery.

not only is he/she/it an elitist nutbag, but a snobbish, holier-than-thou one.

Offline Smokin Joe

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For reference, a 1000 kg rock traveling at the speed of Apollo 13 (~40,000 kph) has the energy of about 1.5 tons of TNT.  You'd need a mass of 5000 kg to reach 1 kT.
So 20MT would be 2000 times that, or roughly 1.333 million kilos. Mare Basalts run about 3300 kg/m3, so it would take about 404 m3 to get a 20MT whack, not allowing for ablation.

Very roughly a 10 meter sphere should do the trick.

Highland rock (feldspathic) has a lower density, around 2650 Kg/m3, so it would take a larger sphere, and the impact breccia samples at about 2400 kg/m3 would have to be even larger, but I think would be more likely to fragment during atmospheric entry.

IF (and that's a big if) that 10 meter ball of basalt hit the surface without breaking up, that would be roughly a 7 mile radius with 5 psi of overpressure (roughly the 'kill' radius of the impact, with widespread serious injury and death). Expect total devastation in roughly a three mile diameter area (not adjusting for terrain) with rare survivors only in protected locations, most concrete buildings would collapse in the 20 psi overpressure, if the effects are equivalent to a groundburst nuke.

It would take some whoppers to be planet wreckers, but 30-50 ft. chunks could do some serious damage to populated areas.

Lunar rock density source: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/CosmoSparks/July12/PSRD-Lunar-rock-densities.pdf
« Last Edit: March 02, 2017, 04:57:47 pm by Smokin Joe »
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Offline Smokin Joe

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not only is he/she/it an elitist nutbag, but a snobbish, holier-than-thou one.
(Everyone should send her a pebble)  :silly:
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline Elderberry

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For reference, a 1000 kg rock traveling at the speed of Apollo 13 (~40,000 kph) has the energy of about 1.5 tons of TNT.  You'd need a mass of 5000 kg to reach 1 kT.

the 5000kg rock @ 40,000kph would have 7.5tons, not 1 kT

Offline r9etb

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the 5000kg rock @ 40,000kph would have 7.5tons, not 1 kT

You're quite right.  In my little spreadsheet I forgot to convert from kph to m/sec.

Offline Suppressed

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Titanium dioxide (Rutile) melts around 1800 degrees C.

Most of the lunar titanium is in ilmenite, which melts at only 1050 degrees C.
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Offline Just_Victor

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You're quite right.  In my little spreadsheet I forgot to convert from kph to m/sec.

I think the Lockheed Mars lander team has an opening for you  :)
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Offline Elderberry

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I think the Lockheed Mars lander team has an opening for you  :)

I used to love the Lunar Lander program. Do you think they'd take me?
And I landed the Shuttle Motion Base Simulator once. And it was survivable.

Offline Just_Victor

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I used to love the Lunar Lander program. Do you think they'd take me?
And I landed the Shuttle Motion Base Simulator once. And it was survivable.

Survivable.  Maybe with Musk's team....
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Offline Elderberry

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Survivable.  Maybe with Musk's team....
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Offline Smokin Joe

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the 5000kg rock @ 40,000kph would have 7.5tons, not 1 kT
Well, heck. I think we're going to need a bigger rock!
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

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Offline Smokin Joe

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Most of the lunar titanium is in ilmenite, which melts at only 1050 degrees C.
Oh. Well, that means more ablation, too...
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline EC

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Well, heck. I think we're going to need a bigger rock!

Nah - free MIRV.  :tongue2:

If you do the orbit right, so the rock is coming as near straight down as makes no difference, you aren't going to need worry too much about ablation. 100 miles isn't much resistance to something that moves through the entire depth of air in 15 seconds.
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Nah - free MIRV.  :tongue2:

If you do the orbit right, so the rock is coming as near straight down as makes no difference, you aren't going to need worry too much about ablation. 100 miles isn't much resistance to something that moves through the entire depth of air in 15 seconds.
Use the basalt, it's more dense, and less likely to fragment.  :tongue2:
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

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I swear! I didn't even pop a tire. The cross winds were murder. :whistle:

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Oceander

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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.


Actually, she isn't that nuts. This is something that has been explored by the US Military in many different ways. Kinetic Bombardment. If you are already up there, it is far more of an efficient way of attack that shooting rockets from continent to continent.

The nuts part comes from the slander that private companies, rather than governments, would do this.  The only people with an incentive to do something like this would be a socialist/fascist government; in other words, a government run by hard left democrats like social justice warriors. 

Offline Cripplecreek

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The nuts part comes from the slander that private companies, rather than governments, would do this.  The only people with an incentive to do something like this would be a socialist/fascist government; in other words, a government run by hard left democrats like social justice warriors.

The kind that would say "We'll take their oil"

Offline Elderberry

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A Simple Targeting Procedure For Lunar Trans-Earth
Injection
Shane Robinson and David Geller†
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, 84322-4130, United States

http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=spacegrant

Offline Joe Wooten

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The meteor that crashed into Russia  was estimated to be about 55 feet in diameter, weighing 100,000 tons, at a speed of 46,000 mph, and had an energy of 500 kilotons, about 25 times the energy of “Fat Man” that exploded over Nagasaki.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280920/Meteor-crashed-Russia-largest-space-rock-hit-earth-century-claim-scientists.html

What would the size and speed of Brianna Wu’s rock be to have the energy of 100’s of nuclear bombs?

I know he (Wu) did not, but has anyone else considered the effort needed to build a mass driver that can fling rocks big enough to do mass damage. It would take years of concentrated effort and HUGE amounts of money to get the supporting infrastructure built on the moon to be able to do that. BY the time something like this could become a problem, I'm sure an easy solution will be available.

Offline Just_Victor

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I know he (Wu) did not, but has anyone else considered the effort needed to build a mass driver that can fling rocks big enough to do mass damage. It would take years of concentrated effort and HUGE amounts of money to get the supporting infrastructure built on the moon to be able to do that. BY the time something like this could become a problem, I'm sure an easy solution will be available.

But stuff is lighter on the moon, so you can just pick up a boulder at chuck it at earth.  Right?
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Offline Joe Wooten

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But stuff is lighter on the moon, so you can just pick up a boulder at chuck it at earth.  Right?

Right........ :silly:

Offline Smokin Joe

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But stuff is lighter on the moon, so you can just pick up a boulder at chuck it at earth.  Right?
Slow and steady wins the race. low constant acceleration, or just give it the right nudge (and trajectory) and let gravity do the rest. The movement of the earth isn't exactly a secret.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline thackney

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But stuff is lighter on the moon, so you can just pick up a boulder at chuck it at earth.  Right?

I was thinking Catapults.

(Actual I first thought Trebuchets, because Trebuchets are cool, but low gravity works against those)
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Offline Just_Victor

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I was thinking Catapults.

(Actual I first thought Trebuchets, because Trebuchets are cool, but low gravity works against those)

Lunar trebuchets....   *drooling*

If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.

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Congressional candidate: Moon-colonizing companies could destroy cities by dropping rocks

Brianna Wu, a Dem, claims that Moon valuable militarily because rocks ‘have power of 100s of nuclear bombs’
 
Brianna Wu, a software engineer and video-game developer, sits at her workstation in Boston, in this July 25, 2016, file photo. Wu, the co-founder of a gaming software company who made headlines two years ago when she was threatened, said she wants to run for one of Massachusetts' nine U.S. House seats. Wu said her platform will focus on privacy rights and online harassment. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Brianna Wu, a software engineer and video-game developer, sits at her workstation in Boston, in this July 25, 2016, file photo. Wu, the co-founder of a gaming software company who made headlines two years ago when she was threatened, said ... more >
 
By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - Tuesday, February 28, 2017

A transgender-issues activist and Democratic candidate for Congress says the advent of the space tourism industry could give private corporations a “frightening amount of power” to destroy the Earth with rocks because of the Moon’s military importance.

Brianna Wu, a prominent “social justice warrior” in the “Gamergate” controversy who now is running for the House seat in Massachusetts’ 8th District, suggested in a since-deleted tweet that companies could drop rocks from the Moon.

“The moon is probably the most tactically valuable military ground for earth,” the tweet said. “Rocks dropped from there have power of 100s of nuclear bombs.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/28/brianna-wu-claims-companies-could-destroy-cities-b/
« Last Edit: March 03, 2017, 11:33:08 am by rangerrebew »

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The democrats must have some requirement that you have to be a looney toon to become a member.  The party is absolutely overrun by them. :woohoo: ***hair on fire 10631

Offline Suppressed

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Offline Ghost Bear

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I was thinking Catapults.

(Actual I first thought Trebuchets, because Trebuchets are cool, but low gravity works against those)

Electromagnetic catapults, a.k.a. mass drivers.
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Offline Smokin Joe

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In other (FAKE) news, Drug suppliers are struggling to keep up with Bostonian demand for a new drug that combines the effects of LSD and crack cocaine... :silly:
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline Smokin Joe

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The real humor in this is that this candidate thinks the space tourism industry would lead to the earth being destroyed from the moon.

Apparently, not too much thought was given as to where the tourists would come from after planet wide destruction. I think it would be bad for business, personally.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline Cripplecreek

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The real humor in this is that this candidate thinks the space tourism industry would lead to the earth being destroyed from the moon.

Apparently, not too much thought was given as to where the tourists would come from after planet wide destruction. I think it would be bad for business, personally.

The danger would come only when there was a large permanent lunar population able to provide for themselves without earth. At that point people begin to grumble about independence

geronl

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I know he (Wu) did not, but has anyone else considered the effort needed to build a mass driver that can fling rocks big enough to do mass damage. It would take years of concentrated effort and HUGE amounts of money to get the supporting infrastructure built on the moon to be able to do that. BY the time something like this could become a problem, I'm sure an easy solution will be available.

It would be easier to use Near Earth Asteroids than moon rocks

Offline Cripplecreek

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It would be easier to use Near Earth Asteroids than moon rocks

They're already moving and just need a nudge in the right direction.

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Offline Smokin Joe

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It would be easier to use Near Earth Asteroids than moon rocks
Yeah, but what a waste of a chunk of nickel/iron. Chondrites might fragment easier, and that just wouldn't have the same impact. (pun intended!)
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis