Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!alberta!ubc-cs!uw-beaver!tektronix!percival!bucket!leonard
From: leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Denial of access to space
Keywords: selfdefense
Message-ID: <1028@bucket.UUCP>
Date: 28 Aug 88 09:30:57 GMT
References: <65053@sun.uucp>
Reply-To: leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson)
Organization: Rick's Home Grown Unix; Portland, OR
Lines: 27

In article <65053@sun.uucp> kwatts%tahquitz@Sun.COM (Kevin L. Watts) writes:
<!	I know this isn't the place to discuss fiction but I was wondering
<how you all feel about the FEASABILITY of this idea which was the theme
<of one of the stories in a book I have.
<
<	Canada, fearing a war between USA and USSR, and the damage that could
<befall when both sides shootdown the other sides missles over canada, built
<giant canons, filled them with an enormous amount of debris, and shot it all
<into orbit. The premise was there would be so much junk up there that any
<missile would be destroyed if it passed through.
<
<	Is this Theoretically possible given the trajectories of ICBM's?
<Bombers could still deliver their payloads in any case. May be it was to 
<thwart some orbital weapons platform or something. So no one could safely
<launch anything.

I figured I'd better expand on this as I am somewhat curious as well, having
read the same story. 

The "cannons" are shafts sunk into solid rock, and use shaped charge *nuclear*
explosives to fire the junk into orbits. (think nuclear-powered scattergun)

-- 
Leonard Erickson		...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]
"I used to be a hacker. Now I'm a 'microcomputer specialist'.
You know... I'd rather be a hacker."