Space Cannon

After reading an article about thousands of drones being produced and used in current wars, I thought about an idea. During WW 2, allied forces bombed the critical facilities and infrastructures to reduce the enemy’s production and logistic capabilities. Space weather radar technologies have evolved a lot which improved the weather forecasts. This technology coupled with the satellites containing space cannon can be used to organize pinpoint operations to critical targets from space.

Space cannon is a modified version of a potato cannon. Instead of potato, tiny carbon nanotube (CNT) bullets are used. CNT bullets after careful aiming would be pushed away from the satellite with pressurized gas which is also used for the ion thrusters. The bullets don’t need to have a very high speed. They would already have a supersonic speed which is the orbital speed of the satellite. CNT is the hardest known material. It wouldn’t get damaged during its supersonic descent to earth and can penetrate anything with such speed and hardness. It would be impossible to detect and stop them.  Their shape can be optimized after thorough testing. Their tiny size and low propulsion requirement would allow multiple bullets to be triggered with different trajectories to increase the hit rate. The compactness of the cannon would allow them to be integrated to almost any satellite orbiting the earth. One important thing is, they have to be supported with high accuracy weather data for a precise trajectory calculation.

Even though, the bullet would be tiny, it would still shot down a plane, damage a power distribution transformer or a communication center. If it hits a locomotive, it would stop a train and block a railroad. The possibilities continue.

The down side of this weapon is its simplicity. Which would enable your enemy to copy it and use it against you as well. However, technological advancements and infrastructure would increase the accuracy and therefore effectiveness of it which would make the difference between the sides.