Oct 4th 1957 was a shocking day in American history. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik and the race was on. People were not oblivious; we were on pins and needles. President Kennedy laid down a marker by setting the goal of "landing a man safely on the moon, and retruning him safely to Earth", beffore the end of the decade. We didn't need fantasies or coddling, even us kids at the time knew what was at stake. It was scarier than anything I can imagine before or since.

 

Oct 4th 1957 was a shocking day in American history. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik and the race was on.

I remember picking it up on TASS, we used to use TASS for Morse practice because it was a nice clean signal.
Max.

 

Back to the rail gun, yes, pretty cool technology. Something I want to see happen soon is the same technology used to launch aircraft off a carrier deck which is in the works.

As to the "Cold War"? What I remember most and as clear as yesterday was October 1962 when I was 12 years old.

Most historians agree that the world has never come closer to nuclear war than it did during a thirteen-day period in October 1962, after the revelation that the Soviet Union had stationed several medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Ron

 

Back to the rail gun, yes, pretty cool technology. Something I want to see happen soon is the same technology used to launch aircraft off a carrier deck which is in the works.

Get the craft and the pilot to Mach 6 in about 600 feet?

 

Get the craft and the pilot to Mach 6 in about 600 feet?

No, not quite. Typical catapult system on a Nimitz Class carrier is 200 feet long and the name of the game is to accelerate an aircraft from 0 to around 170-200 MPH in that 200 feet. The ride takes all of almost 2 seconds. This all depends on the aircraft. The steam catapults in use today haven't changed much since their inception. Steam catapults require extensive maintenance to keep them up and running plus making the steam takes a heck of a lot of fresh water. While a carrier can produce quite a bit of fresh water. The carrier's desalination plant that can turn 400,000 gallons of saltwater into drinkable freshwater every day. A good percentage is used for the reactors and the catapults. A catapult system based on Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) will be a big plus once they get it working and in place. But no, it won't launch aircraft an Mach 6.

Ron

 

 

Get the craft and the pilot to Mach 6 in about 600 feet?

I don't even want to imagine what the poor pilot's jellied brains would look like after that...

 

http://abcnews.go.com/International...ses-laser-electromagnetic-guns-costs-28851080

 

That duck-and-cover film brings back memories. It seems utterly surreal now, but that was the time. I can remember drills in 1st grade (1963 or so) where we would jump from our desks to duck and cover under them, or in the hall away from the windows. I was only 5-6 but even then I wondered how sticking my butt in the air would do me much good at 6000°.

The problem with railguns is not getting the speed, it's keeping the projectile from vaporizing from air resistance heat.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of black kids among the children being trained... I mean, this was the 1950's !

 

I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of black kids among the children being trained... I mean, this was the 1950's !

Imagine that. The 50s weren't as barbaric as the news media would have you believe.