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   Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 22:32:12 JST Charlie Stross

   • MidgePhoto
   • goatsarah

   @goatsarah @midgephoto No, but it might melt one. (On the other hand, the only strong enough gamma source to pump a graser is a nuclear explosion …!) Edward Teller had the hots for grasers, because obviously MOAR H-BOMBS to play with!

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     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 21:24:27 JST Charlie Stross

     Incidentally, here's a short video of a Sprint ABM launch test from the 1960s/early 1970s. Around 52-55 seconds into the video we see the nose of the missile's second stage glowing white hot from atmospheric friction as it hits Mach 10 within 5 seconds of launch …

     Truly a hullmetal skidmark!

     https://youtu.be/msXtgTVMcuA

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     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 21:31:46 JST Charlie Stross

     • goatsarah

     @goatsarah Yeah, that's a good question. (Sprint accelerated at 100g, so hard it built up a plasma sheath on the way up, and it took really powerful guidance radar to punch a signal through it.) I imagine it's either declassified of will be within a few years, as the ABM system was decomissioned in 1976.

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     MidgePhoto (midgephoto@photog.social)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 22:28:04 JST MidgePhoto

     in reply to

     @cstross Spartan, it is a long time ago, might have been intended to take out the warhead, later the manoeuvring bus, above the atmosphere. Or to stress the Russian economy while feeding capitalist Americans. Or all of the above.

     A collimated beam/pulse of neutrons from near ground level would have to be moving very very fast for its half life to leave it effective, which would make interesting energy release on the way. And cartridges might be no cheaper than Sprints, if even possible.

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     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 22:28:05 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • MidgePhoto

     @midgephoto Sprint carried a W66 enhanced radiation weapon—an early neutron bomb. The idea was that the neutron pulse from a near-miss would trigger a fizzle (premature, incomplete fission) in the ICBM warhead while it was still 30-40km above the city it was aimed at. Replacing a big H-bomb blast at ground zero with a window-rattler 20 miles up. Only it was far more expensive to add Sprint ABMs than it was for the Soviets to add extra warheads to their ICBMs.

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     MidgePhoto (midgephoto@photog.social)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 22:28:06 JST MidgePhoto

     in reply to

     @cstross It looked like a miss, but IIRC they didn't have to have contact. Or maybe that was the Spartan.

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     MidgePhoto (midgephoto@photog.social)'s status on Friday, 28-Jul-2023 22:40:05 JST MidgePhoto

     in reply to

     • goatsarah

     @cstross @goatsarah
     Today's other conversation is about century-old engineering, standardisation, and Singer sewing machines. Nice to have a range.