What Weapons work in Space?

[libelula]

Since space isa vacuum and doesn't have the same natrual laws as on earth. I suppose lazers would work since visible light can travel through a vacuum and any other non visible light waves would work too ex. gamma, ultra violet. What about nuclear weapons? Fusion happens in stars. Could a fusion weapon work in a vacuum?

[Rik_the_Riff]

A lot of things work in space, at least in theory;

Lasers, of course (though you can't see them), plus as you said things like gamma rays.

Any sort of physical projectile could be deadly - all you have to do is open a ship up to the vacuum outside + it'll die. So, bullets, rockets (doesn't have to be subtle). Plus, of course, with no air-resistance, they're even more powerful.

You mentioned fusion weapons - not sure what you mean, but I'll do my best. We already have 'fusion weapons' in the H-bomb. More complicated stuff I don't know about, but if you're far enough in the future, who's to argue?

I can think of a few more exotic ideas as well - using big nukes to create huge EMPs (electro-magnetic pulses - fry all a ship's electronics), for instance. Also, you could use huge concave mirrors to melt ships. You could also superheat metals into gasses, then use magnets to squish them up and squirt them at enemies which had got in close (have to be short ranged because space is so c-c-cold).

Yeah, there are plenty of weapons which would work, some of them quite simple. Travel is more of a problem. And that, I improvise and leave realism to greater minds.

Rik

[libelula]

Actually I had the idea that projectiles when lauched into space would just float. I was looking at space debre and big rocks that hang around our solar system. I'm not very good at physics. If you got an object in motion like a bullet or torpedo would it gain more momentum in a vacuum? Tell me more about the metal gas idea it sounded very interesting.

[Shaun]

Projectiles in space keep travelling at the same speed (and momentum) as when they were fired until they hit something.
I'm pretty sure we have protection against EMP's already for circuits, so that might not work.
Nuclear weapons (fission, at least) would work, they just wouldn't have nearly the same impact. Atomic weapons have most of their destructive power by the imense heat and shockwaves created in the atmosphere when they explode. They gamma radiation created would be pretty deadly though, if no protection against it was used.

[Rik_the_Riff]

Projectiles launched in space only appear to float because you have no frame of reference against which to judge their movement.

The metal gas idea I nicked straight out of an Arthur Clarke story (Earthlight). With some REALLY BIG magnets, you squeeze the metal and heat it. Eventually (as I understand the physics, you wind up with a sort of plasma, which you then chuck at the enemy with more big magnets. Has to be short-range, though, because space is very cold.

Rik

[libelula]

someone moved my thread. Though I am still a little confused about the heated metals I will look into more of it. I know from astronomy class about short wave vs. long wave rays. Medicine can make lasers strong enough to cut, but is it possible to make light strong enough that it would blow stuff up?

[ray gower]

Broadly weapons that rely upon the activities of Sir Isaac Newton have problems.

Weapons that rely upon blast effect e.g. explosives, to cause damage will have limited effect. There is nothing for them to react upon and against. Explode a stick of dynamite on the floor and detonate it and the hole it creates is not very big. Bury it a foot or two underground and things are a lot more promising.
The same rules apply to the bang of a nuclear weapon. The EMP pulse can be protected against, which only leaves the poisoing problem.

Weapons that use momentum e.g. bullets, will work provided they have the kinetic energy required to penetrate whatever they hit and the range is almost unlimited.
The problem is how to fire the thing. If one is floating in space and fires a gun, the bullet will leave the muzzle at the right speed. But because of Newton, one will also be disappearing in the opposite direction at much the same velocity. This could be undesirable.

Lasers are promising. You need surprisingly little power to create a beam that can cut metals. Our laser cutter at work uses about 15KW to cut 3mm steel.
On Earth the problem is maintaining a concentrated beam that is powerful enough to do damage over any distance. The beam is defracted and dispersed by air. It is one of the reasons why SDI did not work. In space the problem is much reduced.
Unfortunately they are comparitively easy to negate.

Plasma, the mot metal gas, also works in a vacumn and is, I think, more promising. It uses even less power than a laser (a 15KW industrial CO2 plasma cutter will easily chew up 12mm of armour at better then 8M/min).
Ultimately it is a simple kinetic weapon.

Above those perhaps we can look at the use of ultra-shortwave beams of radiation that can upset the bonds between molecules, a little like microwaves.

Nuclear power, in the shape of fusion, not fision as we currently use, will have to provide the power, unless we discover Trek like anti-matter reactors

[Rik_the_Riff]

Wow - lots of interesting ideas. I'd better get scribbling.....

Actually, the weapons and technologies that really interest me reside a few hundred years further in the future; the so-called 'Space-drive' and various other ideas I've had regarding the manipulation of the so-called 'exotic matter' (and various other things). For instance, it may become possible to drop one end of a wormhole into the middle of enemy ships and leave the other hanging in a vacuum (sort of a modern version of holing a ship below the waterline), or maybe manipulate the fabric of space itself, using it to squash enemy ships or push/pull them into planets or stars. It might even be possible to push planets at ships, or to change the behaviour of space-time, creating pockets where time doesn't exist and thus we can move through them without time passing outside them - a sort of instantaneous travel.

Someone, reading this, is yelling about the laws of physics, but the laws of physics don't apply to everywhere in nature (two words; black holes), so why should they be taken as anything other (cliche alert) than guidelines? If nature can break them, why shouldn't we?

A good way to get around the problem of how to get these into stories is to have advanced alien races 'give' them to us - another cliche, but hey, it works.

That black hole has just given me a whole bunch more ideas, but this post is getting wayyy too long + I have a whole bunch of new story ideas. Hope I've helped a bit.

Rik

[ZachWZ]

Their no air in space, so how can expolsie get the oxygen to form the spark which starts the process?

ZachWZ

[Dave]

Originally posted by ray gower
Weapons that use momentum e.g. bullets, will work provided they have the kinetic energy required to penetrate whatever they hit and the range is almost unlimited.
The problem is how to fire the thing. If one is floating in space and fires a gun, the bullet will leave the muzzle at the right speed. But because of Newton, one will also be disappearing in the opposite direction at much the same velocity. This could be undesirable.

Gauss Weapons overcome this problem of Newton's Third Law of Motion (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.)

The Gauss Weapon uses a strong electromagnetic field to propel the projectile between two rails, in much the same way as a monorail train works. Velocity is directly proportional to barrel length; with enough power and a long enough barrel, in a vacuum it is possible to accelerate projectiles even to relativistic velocities. This is all Science-fact, though the power generation and the length of barrel necessary might be a problem in actually getting one to work successfully.

In Science Fiction, there are two types of Gauss weapons: railguns and massdrivers. Railguns fire high-density metal projectiles at extremely high velocity, while massdrivers fire a conventional explosive shell at a velocity which is about the same as a shell fired from a conventional artillery piece.

Minature Railguns firing needle-like bullets could replace a present-day handgun, while larger Railguns could replace a Cannon.

Originally posted by ZachWZ
Their no air in space, so how can explosive get the oxygen to form the spark which starts the process?

The explosive could have it's own Oxidiser, in the same way that rockets work -- they usually carry liquid Oxygen and mix it with the fuel (usually Gasoline or liquid Hydrogen.) Anyway you could concievably design a shell which contained two stable reactants which are safe until they mix together on impact and go KABOOOOM!

[ray gower]

The electro-magnetic rail gun solution has been tested for possible use on the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier as well as by the American Navy for point defence of ships. So the technology works there.

As for oxygen. Almost all explosives produce oxygen when fired.

[Rik_the_Riff]

One small further idea regarding the oxygen problem - it might be possible to design a device that uses the oxygen contained in an enemy ship as its source, thus saving space for more explosives.

Just a thought

Rik

[ray gower]

Rather assumes whoever you are shooting at uses Oxygen and not something more inert

[Rik_the_Riff]

True, but in man-on-man battles (which I see as being the most likely, at least early on in man's exploration of space), all ships will have oxygen-rich environments. There is a scientific theory that life can only evolve in oxygen atmospheres, so it is possible that all ships will have oxygen atmospheres.

Rik

[libelula]

Not true as I recall the creatures that survive on the methane vents in the ocean do not require oxygen to survive. Or at least I heard something like that. Besides the laws that require a planet or environment to sustain life are changing. Bacteria samples that were left on the moon during the first moon landing were brought back to earth and it was discovered that the bacteria was still alive. And it has been discovered that some mico-animals can survive in the vacuum of space by going into stasis. NOT only is it possible for life to exist without oxygen, but life could evolve to exist in the vacuum of space.