Explaining Kinetic Weapons in Space Combat

Uh, I'm no expert, but doesn't space mean that you'd be expiriencing zero gravity? Or near zero when you're near celestial bodies? And since weight is a result of mass being pulled by gravity, it would mean that anything in space is essentially weightless.

So, shouldn't you be needing very little energy to accelerate something in space? Like you can probably use a very little amount of gunpowder/chemical/electricity to propel your projectile. An amount that's so small, it's almost insignificant at causing any heating up or stuff like that. Isn't that possible?

If not, I'd humbly request for anyone to explain why? Because I'm curious.

I was hoping the Halo UNSC MAC cannons were gonna be mentioned.

The purple plasma is brilliant because it makes the weapons "Sci-Fi" while being a lot closer to "Sci-Fact".
I fvcking love it!

One of my favourite takes on kinetics in space warfare is C+ cannons from First Contact, they work by essentially strapping a FTL drive to a hyper dense slug accelerating it to 99.97 C, making it hit within seconds to minutes and transforms it into a ravening ball of energy with the kinetic mass of a small planet.

There is a sci-fi projectile technology that I always thought would be really neat, and just logical enough to suspend doubt (even if it is actually scientifically impossible); High-magnetic ballistic rounds.

In a nutshell, it is a bullet but one that is energized to be highly magnetic (electromagnetic maybe? ). Useless in short range and/or in atmosphere where there are too many varieties of resistance to prevent it from actually affecting a round's direction. But in space, with effectively no friction, and even less interference of other pulling forces it could be enough for a round to go from 'almost hitting' to curving towards a ship as it gets close and effectively steering itself into an impact. As a bonus, magnetic force increases as a round gets closer, translating into adding to the acceleration of the round. Especially in the last instant where a round would accelerate into an impact rather than continue to decelerate. It would also affect the physics of ricochet/deflection on imperfect hits as the round is, again, being pulled into the target which would increase potential impact that would be lost from indirect contact.

The tricky part would be having an excuse, through technology, energy, or unique material, that would excuse a massively high magnetic field from a comparatively small package. Maybe some super-tech version of a round being the equivalent to a high-yield battery wrapped in a dense coil of fine copper wire.

I wonder, could the chemical reaction be employed after the projectile has been accelerated by the rail gun/coil gun, rather than before?

"What do you hear?" .... Nothing. There is no sound in the vacuum of space.

Do they ever think about objects in space keep going unless acted upon ,so all these rounds being fired at a target if they miss and most will ,will keep going until stopped by something else. Nobody seems to think about this on earth either,which a lot of Americans die by bullets than any other country.

Regarding bullets fired backwards having higher relative velocity, no, that is not how momentum works. If the gun was travelling at velocity v and the barrel velocity of the bullet is u, then (at non-relativistic speeds) the bullet travels at u + v. Relative to the ship travelling at v, it's still just u in either direction. It's different from the frame of the target, but not from the shooter.

Ah...the mass effect music backround, gives me memories

Massive downside of this weapons is they sont stop till they hit something

The best advantage of kinetic weapon over laser weapon is that if you got hit by kinetic weapon, you cannot stop it, and you will have a very bad day if you aren't dead yet.
Reflective coating, active cooling system, and heat-absorbent mist are very cheap countermeasures that are laser-proof. Their laser-proof properties are well observed and documented in real life.
However, there is literally ZERO existing material created by the laws of physics that is bullet-proof.
You may create bullet-RESISTANT material that can stop 1 or 2 consecutive hits by kinetic weapon in the same spot, but you literally need to violate laws of physics to create a magic material that is impenetrable by kinetic weapon.
If technology is advanced enough to develop portable, high-energy-density supercapacitors that make mobile laser weapon viable, then the same technological advancement can also be used to develop mobile railgun/coilgun that can fire projectile at relativistic velocity faster than the reaction time of the enemy ship's threat detection system.

I read a non professional paper from an MIT student where he proposed successive massive coils stretching between the moon and marstgat would accelerate a spacecraft incrementally and any fuel carried by the craft would be used to slow down before entering mars orbit

The one thing I hate about sci fi is the fact that you rarely see support ships. BSG got it right. As a capital ship would need destroyers, tankers ect with it. Hell, even fighter jets go out with wing men. A carrier group would be a good start.

One thing i think isn`t talked about much is the projectile-form for the respective weapon-types. The first thing that might comes to mind as an ammunition-type for a railgun would be a APFSDS-like dart. But that would not make a lot of sense, since of course there are no aerodynamics in space that would stabilize it. Any kind of dart- or bullet-shaped projectile would most likely start to tumble, therefor reducing its pecision. The most plausible shape in my opinion would really just be a sphere, maybe made of iron, with a tungsten or uranium core. You could also accelerate a tungsten/uranium sphere from an discarding iron cage, but that would create additional projetile that would fly of uncontrolled. At least i find it funny to think about that for space combat, you would go back to fire straight up cannonballs :)

"heat" Radiators are one option, but there is another for short or semi short term. "Heat batteries" and "heat dumps"

Picture first, storing up heat into an object, say sodium. taking say, 100 pounds of sodium in a ceramic container. letting that store the heat. Then once it gets to hot, where it would risk the safety of the ship... Eject it. Yes, you get a limited number of "dumps" but if its something only used during combat... this would likely allow a ship to operate a lot hotter then other ships that just try and radiate heat...

I am surprised the expanse universe has not invented a type of laser weapon. Surely with the abundance of energy fully developed fusion has to offer, they would not have high power lasers for things.

I have so much to say on this topic.
1. I like the idea of a three or four pronged railgun. It solves your open barrel problem while still showing viewers that this isn't just another chemical gun
2. I wonder if a coil-rail gun would work. It sure looks cool when I imagine it.
3. I have a new idea for a magnetic gun; the magnetic repulsor gun. You have a very strong magnet in the back of the gun & another magnetic in the projectile that is oppositely charged & some kind of material that blocks the magnetic field. When you remove it, they repulse each other & the bullet flies away. I'm no physicist and can't prove this, just a cool idea that I though of.

I’ll never get tired of that Roci v Pella combat footage. 👌🏻

Combustion light-gas gun are capable have of achieving speeds faster than rail guns.

you forgot the shape of the projectile.

2 mins in and i am wondering, when the Geth might show up

Heat could be channeled to a metal puck or gas that can be superheated, then just dumped into space. Simply jettison a white hot pellet into space, or instead heat for critical systems like life support and reheating conventional fuel could be siphoned from these.

It's a bit boring but missiles will be what are used if space combat ever becomes a thing, firing them with waste gas guns to avoid heat from the jet, I think recoil would change your direction and speed so much it would be borderline useless outside of point defence

The arcing problem with railguns isn’t an issue in space as you don’t get arcs in a vacuum.

I'm surprised that the mass being thrown away aren't also used to carry some of the ship's heat toward the target. Radiator bullets...

One thing I have always wondered with kinetic ammo in space: How many space battles in a solar system can you have before all the fired kinetic projectiles in orbit become a statistically relevant space travel hazard?

What about something BIG and VERY VERY FAST?

Halo is kind of best example especially with the unsc. Most of the weapona use ballistic principal. Most of the guns on the ground use some kind of compressed gas or improved gun powder to propel the bullet except for the railgun and gauss cannon. But all od there space based weapons use coil gun technology

MAC are the best

Relating to recoil, crossbows and bows also experience a degree of recoil.

There is a thing to chemrails:
The projectile final speed is limited by propellant gas expansion max velocity. This is why using to big of a cartridge is wasteful. However IF on would drop more propellant in, and allow the cartridge to move back, while projectile is still in the barrel, this could allow pushing in magnet into a coil sitting behind the breach / bolt carrier - inducing a current that can be used for powering rails.
HOWEVER the problem with embedding rails in pressurised barrel - which has to be non conductive - still remains a major problem to be solved.

I wonder if you could use water to bother cool the weapons, and then use the steam to recycle the energy

Despite what Battletech would have you believe. Those GAUSS cannons the US Navy tried also generated a massive amount of heat. A big no-no for space battles.

Awesome video series! Watched hoping for a call out to Knights of Sidonia and their heavy mass canon. Great space anime is you haven’t already seen it.

This is amazing to learn. I don't know if you have seen Aldnoah Zero Anime but in the 2nd season there is a space battle that shows what your talking about with finding the right target at the right time

The point about big massive objects moving slowly or taking advantage of the speed of the enemy target doesn't generate as much discussion, but has been used well by authors going as far back as Heinlein. In that case I am thinking of his use of rail gun launching rocks at Earth in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". The expanse books and TV use rocks well, from the spectacular asteroid bombing of Earth (not the first time that idea got around) to the clever scattering of a gravel patch by a transference gate in the path of incoming enemy ships.

I have this idea for a railgun called the "Railgrinder" that ejects the railgun's rails after the gun fires as they no longer are useful, as well as to dissipate heat.

A lot of people think that railguns don't have recoil because they have limited or no understanding newtons 3rd law. Generally scientific illiteracy.

hmmm a question that i have is coil guns are described as they "PULL " the projectile ... but you can use magnetisem also to "PUSH" that should eliminate the timing thing

i would not say that you automaticly have the lowest range with kinetik energy ... we are talking about space here if i have a not very movable target like a planet or so i can bombard it with kinetiks from another planets orbit or even farer

The Rifts RPG at least takes rail gun recoil into account. Look up the glitter boy if you want an amusing read.