DailyDirt: Modern Swords To Plowshares

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

As technology advances, it's increasingly obvious that almost any piece of hardware can be used as a weapon, if put in the wrong hands. We can't exactly ban people from brewing their own beer at home because it's possible that they could also incubate a bioweapon with the same equipment. But how about re-purposing weapons for peaceful missions? NASA has inherited a couple pretty nice spy telescopes, and there could be plenty of other scientific uses for certain military hardware. After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
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Filed Under: drones, global hawk, hurricanes, military hardware, missiles, nuclear bomb, rocket, sy-400, typhoon, weapons, weather
Companies: nasa, noaa


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2015 @ 5:26pm

    New suggestion for NOAA: Stop a hurricane with FIFTY nuclear bombs!

    As a bonus it gets rid of those pesky nuclear stockpiles! No need to store spent uranium/plutonium either!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Uriel-238 (profile), 20 Oct 2015 @ 7:20pm

      Ummmmmm...no.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Uriel-238 (profile), 20 Oct 2015 @ 7:22pm

      Ummmmmm...no.

      I think we're doing fine by using the bomb payloads to power cities for a while.

      I'd rather the fallout stowed nicely in a hole in a rock than scattered all over the Atlantic, thanks.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2015 @ 5:41pm

    Nice try but not really

    Humans will never be able to truely accomplish this on their own. Soon, but not today.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      JoeCool (profile), 20 Oct 2015 @ 6:07pm

      Re: Nice try but not really

      Sure they can - the Chinese ALREADY launched that missile into the hurricane. Or were you referring to one of the other stories? :D

      Be more specific about what you're replying to. ;)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 20 Oct 2015 @ 5:47pm

    “Weaponry” Without The Weapons

    No actual warheads, or bullets, or bombs. In other words, actually constructive tools rather than destructive weapons.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 20 Oct 2015 @ 7:19pm

    I thought it was odd seeing the nuclear bomb question.

    I was researching HAARP and weather modification so that I could talk to some tinfoil hatters about it and encountered the FAQ question about nuking hurricanes and was like WTF?

    We did consider nuclear depth charges since water is marvelous as absorbing the radiation from a nuke, but even then our conventional anti-sub weapons are adequate enough without causing an international nuclear incident.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Klaus, 21 Oct 2015 @ 9:02am

      Re: I thought it was odd seeing the nuclear bomb question.

      There was a time they seriously considered bombarding the Van Allen belts with nuclear warheads (which they started, by the way - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime) a sensible, peacetime use for atomic weapons...

      Didn't the US once do a high altitude detonation over New England, to try and seed rain, which actually succeeded in producing these huge rain clouds, with the unfortunate side-effect of being radioactive?

      Then that pesky Nuclear Test Ban Treaty came along and ruined everything.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rekrul, 21 Oct 2015 @ 1:24pm

    I don't suggest using nuclear weapons for anything, but I've always wondered if a large, non-nuclear explosive would be effective at dispersing a tornado.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Uriel-238 (profile), 21 Oct 2015 @ 2:11pm

      Using explosives to disperse tornadoes

      This FAQ (USA Today) suggests that using explosives to disperse tornados (or thunderstorms) been considered many times since the 18th century, but generally dismissed.

      Despite tornadoes being sudden and unpredictable systems, there's also the matter that explosives would be adding a lot of heat to a system that is fueled by heat, so the blast may disrupt a part of system for the moment (the eye, for a well-guided shot) but the newly heated and destabilized air would only ensure that the storm would resume and be stronger for the blast.

      Even a MOAB (the largest American conventional weapon) would be a momentary hole in a tornado / super-cell system. Our puny human weapons only make the beast stronger.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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