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Erin Anne
Erin Anne
09:53
lol, I got a good laugh out of "deuterium 3"
2
 
4 hours later…
TheMatrix Equation-balance
TheMatrix Equation-balance
13:31
Helium-3 is hard to find in the oceans of Earth :)
fyrepenguin
fyrepenguin
14:21
@TheMatrixEquation-balance sure …. but what the heck do you mean by Deuterium 3?
@TheMatrixEquation-balance I mean, it would seem that something like SpinLanuch would work better. Current design calls for ~2 km/s exit velocity, and I expect it might be easier to scale up slightly on the moon, rather than more than double the performance of a mortar-style system
TheMatrix Equation-balance
TheMatrix Equation-balance
SpinLaunch vs high powered mortar - just a 1000-ton of mass difference :) Plus, you will need a lot of electricity for SpinLaunch.
fyrepenguin
fyrepenguin
14:40
@TheMatrixEquation-balance I mean, at the point at which you’re commercially mining the Moon, investing in something more reusable seems prudent
TheMatrix Equation-balance
TheMatrix Equation-balance
15:13
@fyrepenguin - what can be more reusable than (LOX + LH2) - from Moon's water firing projectiles to Earth?
 
1 hour later…
Erin Anne
Erin Anne
16:40
I have my doubts about Spinlaunch's credibility
it'd be more workable on the moon, but a traditional mass driver would work even better assuming you're not real-estate-constrained
"mortar" isn't a word I'd associate with launch capability, though as with many military terms I don't know if there's really a great technical definition that includes all things accepted to be mortars and excludes things accepted not to be
I don't see much association of the 2S7 Pion with mortars. Sometimes with howitzers
contrast with the 2S4, which is definitely a mortar. It's got a huge baseplate it carries around. looks ridiculous
though yeah, it hardly has to be mentioned that any propellant-using gun is less-renewable than one that uses electricity as its energy source
Erin Anne
Erin Anne
17:11
especially if you plan to manufacture that propellant by electrolysis, which is notoriously energy-inefficient
fyrepenguin
fyrepenguin
17:28
@ErinAnne true, though I wonder if it would be easier to aim a spinlaunch-style setup than a mass driver. If the former isn’t steerable at all, then yeah, totally agreed.
TheMatrix Equation-balance
TheMatrix Equation-balance
17:45
@ErinAnne - agreed.
Erin Anne
Erin Anne
I wonder how much aiming authority is necessary. I know the Earth isn't quite stationary in the moon's sky, but it's pretty close iirc, and not all that big
that's a good point though. assuming they can actually make the counterweight release and stuff work non-destructively, it certainly seems like the Spinlaunch setup would be compact and aimable

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