Space gun: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added
m lks
Inky (talk | contribs)
mNo edit summary
Line 1:
A '''Space Gun''' is a method of launching an object into [[outer space]] using a large [[gun]], or [[cannon]]. Though it is the earliest envisioned method of space launch, a space gun has never been succesfully used to launch an object into [[orbit]] or even just space. If succesfully developed, a space gun would offer access to space at an unprecedented low cost. However, the large accelerations experienced by a [[ballistic]] projectile would likely mean that a space gun would be incapable of safely launching humans or delicate instruments, rather being restricted to [[freight]].
 
Perhaps the most famous representation of a space gun is [[Jules Verne]]'s novel, ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]'' (made into a silent movie, ''[[Le Voyage dans la Lune]]''), in which astronauts fly to the moon aboard a ship launched from a cannon. [[Isaac Newton]] once used as an example a [[cannon]] placed on top of a [[mountain]] and fired with the correct [[velocity]] as a demonstartiondemonstration of his law of universal gravity, and the concept was featured in films as late as [[1967]] in films like [[Rocket to the Moon]].
 
On the practical side, the most prominent and succesful attempt to make a space gun was ballistics and cannon genius [[Gerald Bull]]'s [[Project Babylon]]. During Project Babylon, Bull used his experience from [[Project HARP]] to build a massive cannon for [[Saddam Hussein]] of [[Iraq]]. This gun, had it been completed, would have been the first true space gun capable of launching objects into orbit. However, it appears that [[Isreal]]i [[Mossad]] agents assassinated him to prevent Iraq from obtaining such a long distance weapon which could target Isreal in a future war.