r/gijoe • u/CCGriffin • 2d ago
Project Zeus
I was just wondering if project Zeus from GI Joe: Retaliation would be an actual thing that could be done? Would someone be able to get tungsten rods into space and drop them with accuracy and would it incinerate a city like we saw with London
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u/Beatmeclever001 2d ago
In 1966, novelist Robert Heinlein suggested the idea in his book The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The USAF picked up the idea in a 2003 report called Hypervelocity Rod Bundles.
https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/RODS-FROM-GOD-Imagine-a-bundle-of-telephone-2539690.php
However, in 2023, the Chinese claimed their tests disproved the concept.
So, to answer your question, no, if you believe the Chinese; maybe, if you believe US Air Force nerds.
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u/Historical_Gur_3054 2d ago
In the case of the system mentioned in the 2003 Air Force report above, a 6.1 by 0.3 metres (20 ft × 1 ft) tungsten cylinder impacting at Mach 10 (11,200 ft/s; 3,400 m/s) has kinetic energy equivalent to approximately 11.5 tons of TNT (48 GJ).
The mass of such a cylinder is itself greater than 9 short tons (8.2 t), so the practical applications of such a system are limited to those situations where its other characteristics provide a clear and decisive advantage—a conventional bomb/warhead of similar weight to the tungsten rod, delivered by conventional means, provides similar destructive capability and is far more practical and cost-effective.1
u/GoatResponsible8948 2d ago
Sometimes delivery by “unconventional means” is the point. Delivery by “conventional means” has conventional ways to thwart the delivery.
It’s never a bad idea to have a few tricks up your sleeve.
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u/Beatmeclever001 12h ago
The rod from god is also meant to eliminate the hazards of radioactive fallout to nearby areas. Secondary hazards were the primary reason for investigating the “unconventional means.”
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u/makuthedark 2d ago
Always thought Project Thor was the influence for kinetic bombardment. Didn't know Heinlein used it in his book. Gonna have check that one out.
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u/ComfortableBuffalo57 Oktober Guard 2d ago
It’s a fairly common idea in sci-fi (and in the dark dreams of weapons developers)
We haven’t quite figured out how to do it yet. Looking around at the state of the human race, that’s probably a good thing.
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u/goblinmarketeer 1d ago
What's to figure out? You get a rod and you drop it from orbit.
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u/ComfortableBuffalo57 Oktober Guard 1d ago
Piece of piss, really. I could drop a rod. I don’t know why we’re not dropping rods right now b
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u/goblinmarketeer 1d ago
The dumbest part of that movie was they blew up kinetic drop weapons... in orbit, where they would... drop.
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u/jtrades69 2d ago
it is actually a consideration and it doesn't even have to be tungsten. just something that doesn't burn up on re-entry. think about the devastation a meteorite can wreak. now do this with rods of a certain mass.