Ex-Soviet space warship cruises?!

[Dickie]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/11/almaz_35m_2013_space_cruise_pledge/

Sounds pretty neat tbh, added to the fact I'd never heard of the armed-Salyuts before - interesting indeed!

 

[CigDriver]

Awesome! Now what did I do with that extra $35M?

For $35M do I get to fly it? I'm pretty good at docking in orbiter...honest:lol:

 

[Ark]

It would take some serious balls just to sign up for that, let alone pay for it.

 

[Ghostrider]

Sounds pretty neat tbh, added to the fact I'd never heard of the armed-Salyuts before - interesting indeed!

Three Salyuts were actually Almaz military space stations, along the lines of the cancelled MOL. One sported a Nudelmann-Rikhter autocannon (23 or 30mm). However, more than orbital gunboats they would be fat targets...

 

[clickypens]

I just hope orbital tourist travel will get cheap enough to be viable for middle classed people like me before I get to old to enjoy it. Can you imagine a week in space? That'd be awesome!

 

[Ghostrider]

In that case, why settle for one week in LEO, I'd rather go on a circumlunar flight.

 

[Ark]

In that case, why settle for one week in LEO, I'd rather go on a circumlunar flight.

Agreed, might as well go someplace.

I don't think those Almazes would have been very effective, they could only aim the cannon at targets so far away. Arranging a collision would be pretty easy, wouldn't take much to punch a hole in that thing.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Anything you can do in LEO, you can also do in cis-Lunar space Prove me wrong!
This sounds pretty good, though I don't think I'm so trusting of 40 year old Soviet hardware.

 

[Andy44]

The cannon was, at best, useful for repelling borders. Otherwise, it was probably put there because some military guy didn't think a military vehicle should be unarmed, is my guess.

The US version of a manned recon platform was the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL), which used a Gemini as a re-entry vehicle for the crew. That project was canceled before the first flight. It was around that time, the early 70s, when it dawned on the USAF that manned space vehicles were pretty redundant for most military purposes.

 

[ijuin]

A cannon would be difficult to use at any range where the difference in orbital paths was significant. For outer space, if you can't have lasers, then guided missiles are your best bet for long range weaponry.

 

[T.Neo]

Even a small guided kinetic impactor with a few m/s velocity relative to the target would do.

 

[ijuin]

Well, the defining characteristic of a "guided missile" is not its explosive payload, but its onboard propulsion and guidance, which was what I was referring to. An unguided projectile is much too difficult to hit anything with beyond a couple of kilometers' range anyway.

 

[Andy44]

I disagree. Targeting objects in space should be fairly easy as long as they are not thrusting. Their trajectories are not affected by atmospheric effects.

Of course I doubt the Almaz had the ballistics computing power to do so, which is why I think it was good for repelling borders and not much else.

 

[Brycesv1]

as easy as it would be to track and shoot something in space. ud think more countries will start putting small cannons on satalites for the specific purpose of shooting down anything owned by another country

and on that note *begins research on active kinetic shields*

 

[Ark]

as easy as it would be to track and shoot something in space. ud think more countries will start putting small cannons on satalites for the specific purpose of shooting down anything owned by another country

and on that note *begins research on active kinetic shields*

Problem with that is that A. It's a treaty violation, and B. Kessler Syndrome. Shoot at things in orbit long enough and the debris will eventually start destroying your stuff.

 

[Andy44]

Yes, cannons are a bad way to kill satellites in general. To minimize debris you want something that kills it without making pieces. A bullet that won't overpenetrate would work, but that depends on the velocity, which depends on the initial state vectors of the two vessels, which is variable.

A better way is to rendezvous with the target and spray paint the solar panels and sensor lenses with a nice coat of Krylon primer.

Sounds wierd? That's essentially what the USAF planned for both the X-20 follow-on weapons and the Apollo "Combat LEM". Amazing what you can do with a little paint and a lot of delta-V.

 

[Ghostrider]

Problem with that is that A. It's a treaty violation, and B. Kessler Syndrome.

You can cut it down to Kessler Syndrome, because treaties are only valid as long as the strongest party finds it in its interest to abide by them. After that, it's might makes right. The only thing that really stands in the way of orbital shootouts is that there is zillions of valuable commercial hardware zooming around up there and the First World's economies wouldn't take it kindly if TV birds and commsats were suddenly turned into so much twisted debris.