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Path: utzoo!kcarroll
From: kcarroll@utzoo.UUCP (Kieran A. Carroll)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: space station killing
Message-ID: <3683@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Mar-84 16:56:37 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.3683
Posted: Mon Mar 26 16:56:37 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 26-Mar-84 16:56:37 EST
References: <152@hocse.UUCP>, <3392@lanl-a.UUCP> <3646@utzoo.UUCP>, <709@orca.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 29

*

   With reference to how easy it is to kill a space station,
Ben Bova once wrote an amusing short story about how easy it'd be
to terrorize a lunar colony.
   The setting: an American lunar settlement, which is near its
Russian counterpart; both of them are armed with light artillery.
   The plot: tensions had reached a high level on the moon; the American
and Russian bases finally started shooting at each other. The barrage only
lasted a day; they both stopped after they figured out what effect
their projectiles were having. Tou see, both sides had been firing
high-velocity rounds, most of which missed the intended target. 
The rounds had enough velocity to go into orbit around the moon;
after one orbit, the American's barrage had circled the satellite,
and blew holes in the American base. Similarly with the Russians.
Both sides soon realized that their own fire was endangering them more
than the other side's, since the laws of orbital mechanics assured
that a bullet fired with elliptical-orbit velocity would eventually
come back to its launch site, whereas the Russian marksmen only
got through >some< of the time.
   The story takes place several years after the short battle; the American
base commander is explaining to a congressional budget investigator
(or some such official) just why they need yet >another< high-
powered computer at the base: to calculate the ever-changing orbits
of the years-old volleys, so they'l know when to...
...DUCK!!!

-Kieran A. Carroll
...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll