Are space shuttles armed?

[Ringo]

Given the relevant differences in technology levels between a bunch of semi-evolved apes and an insterstellar space travellling species, would there be any point in even trying to arm a shuttle?


"So Thog, canoe ready to go look for new islands?"

"Yes."

"What if we meet bad people who don't like us."

"That why we carry spears Ug. And new secret super weapon: bow and arrow."

"That is good. We ba able to kick anyone's ass."

Two days later, the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group steams into view...

Quite right - but only a fool would get in the canoe without his spear, bow and arrow if they were the best defences they had.

 

[misterwibble]

And only a bigger fool would use them to start a fight when vastly overmatched.

Have you seen Blazing Saddles?

"Uh-uh, don't shoot him, you'll only make him mad."

 

[Mythopoeika]

I believe that was the basis one one of the proposed US space weapons called 'gods rods', iirc 6 foot long rods of tungsten dropped from orbit that hit the earth at a completely bonkers velocity and temperature.

That's what I was thinking about, but you probably wouldn't use it against a moving target.

 

[OneWingedBird]

Far more danger in hitting a critical system - although there will be redundancy in those systems.

Also thinking of mythbusters and some of their 'what is bulletproof' experiments, most decent handguns can shoot right through a car, assuming nothing really heavy like the engine block is in the way. Probably not worth thinking how far that round could go into the guts of the ship. Or how much water/oxygen/fule could leak out before you could suit up to even get outside to look at it.

 

[Ringo]

And only a bigger fool would use them to start a fight when vastly overmatched.

Have you seen Blazing Saddles?

"Uh-uh, don't shoot him, you'll only make him mad."

:lol: Too right -bringing a catapult to a gun fight springs to mind!

 

[wembley9]

I believe that was the basis one one of the proposed US space weapons called 'gods rods', iirc 6 foot long rods of tungsten dropped from orbit that hit the earth at a completely bonkers velocity and temperature.

"Rods from God" have been around quiote a while as a concept but have a couple of fundamental limitations. One is that they are ridiculously expensive (you're looking at $10k/pound to get into orbit), another is that guidance is a real problem, and a third is that penetration is fundamentally limited to a low multiple of the rod length.

That said, a couple of years ago it was suggested that Trident missiles could be modified as conventional bunker busters, but the idea went nowhere.

As for arming to deal with aliens...why? Why would a space shuttle have any more chance fo encountering alien spacecraft than an airliner would?
NASA has never spotted an alien spacecraft as far as we know; but they have seen plenty of other threats (eg space junk) - better the use the weight capacity dealing with those.

Also, can you imagine any situation in which a shittle would actually be cleared to fire?
Good news: you destroyed a Rigellian scout craft.
Bad news: we are now at war with a spacefaring civilisation...

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

...shittle...

:lol:

 

[GNC]

...shittle...

:lol:

That's what the Rigellians call them. Pesky, foul mouthed lot. No wonder we're going to war.

 

[Mythopoeika]

It's called a shittle because flying one has a 'brown trouser' effect... :lol:

 

[ramonmercado]

Here Is the Soviet Union's Secret Space Cannon
In 1975, the USSR actually fired a cannon from an orbiting space station. Forty years later, we finally got a good look at this gun.

A quarter of the century after the end of the Cold War, the only cannon that has actually fired in space finally comes to light.

Installed on the Almaz space station in 1970s, the R-23M Kartech was derived from a powerful aircraft weapon. The original 23-millimeter cannon was designed by Aron Rikhter for the Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder supersonic bomber. That gun is relatively well known. However, its space-based cousin had largely remained in obscurity.


Until now. This year, thanks to a Russian television show, the world got to see grainy footage of the space gun. Using that footage, we created the virtual model of the R-23M that you see above. Here's the inside story:

THIS YEAR, THANKS TO A RUSSIAN TV SHOW, THE WORLD GOT TO SEE GRAINY FOOTAGE OF THE SPACE GUN.

From the dawn of the Space Age, the secrecy-obsessed Soviet military was terrified by the prospect of American spacecraft approaching and inspecting Soviet military satellites—which, according to the Kremlin's propaganda, were not even supposed to exist. This wasn't crazy. The fear of attack on spacecraft was real, with both sides of the Iron Curtain developing anti-satellite weapons. It seemed perfectly logical in the 1960s that military and piloted spacecraft would need self-defense weapons.

The early Soviet space station project code-named Almaz ("diamond") became the first real candidate for defensive space weaponry. The habitable outpost was intended almost exclusively for military purposes, starting with reconnaissance. Along with some state-of-the-art spy equipment, such as cameras and radar, Almaz would carry the cannon in its arsenal. ...

http://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...ere-is-the-soviet-unions-secret-space-cannon/

 

[kamalktk]

"Rods from God" have been around quiote a while as a concept but have a couple of fundamental limitations. One is that they are ridiculously expensive (you're looking at $10k/pound to get into orbit),

I don't think that price has ever stopped the US military.

 

[oldrover]

There was the original Orion concept. The nuclear powered space craft from the 50's (?) Where the more weight the better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

That was cancelled by Kennedy. Apparently because there was a military version planned.

 

[eburacum]

The ostensible reason for the cancellation of nuclear Orion was that each launch would put extra radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. Freeman Dyson calculated that each launch would statistically cause on average between 0.1 and 1 fatal cancers from the fallout. This was apparently deemed to be an unacceptable risk.

 

[snuck]

I don't think the Russians ever carried a gun for firing inside a spaceship (or the ISS). It's due to the fact that they land in some fairly inhospitable places when they return to Earth and may need to defend themselves against possible predators if there's a delay in reaching them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23131359/.../t/russia-has-corner-guns-space/#.VpdOpLZ941J

It has a specialy designed triple-barrelled piston, with a rifled barrel for longer ranges/hunting, and smoothbore shotgun barrels. It also had a fold out machete, and the stock boubled as a shovel. I believe it was inspired by cosmonauts who landed in Siberia having close calls with bears and angry locals during the long wait for the responders to get to these isolated sites.

I think the apollo-era lanmding modules had standard pistols for similar reasons (and also a multilingual phrase book, so they could plead for thier lives/offer bribes for thier safety in local languages)

I believe you can buy a modern reproduction. I think there is still a gun on the ISS.