We tested the US Military’s secret space weapon
An engineer came up with a plan to drop tungsten telephone poles from space – the idea has been seriously considered on multiple occasions, so we tested it. This video is sponsored by Brilliant. You can get started for free, or the first 200 people to sign up via https://brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription.
Massive thanks to Archisand for building such a beautiful sandcastle. https://www.youtube.com/@GregLeBon
Thanks to Inland Empire Film Services and the San Bernardino County Film Office for portions of the video shot in the County of San Bernardino.
Huge thanks to John and Angie Miller for helping us with securing the shooting location and going above and beyond to make this shoot happen – http://highdesertlocations.com/
Massive thanks to Dr David Wright for the interview and providing invaluable guidance during the research for this video.
Here’s a great video about space-based missile defense – https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/space-based-missile-defense-not-good-idea
Massive thanks to Adam Savage for being part of this video
Additional photos from NASA and ESA
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References:
USAF. (2003). The US Air Force transformation flight plan.
Preston, R., Johnson, D. J., Edwards, S. J., Miller, M. D., & Shipbaugh, C. (2002). Space weapons earth wars. Rand Corporation.
Wright, D., Grego, L., & Gronlund, L. (2005). The physics of space security. A Reference Manual, Cambridge.
DeBlois, B. M., Garwin, R. L., Kemp, R. S., & Marwell, J. C. (2004). Space weapons: crossing the US Rubicon. International Security, 50-84.
Baucom, D. R. (2017). The Rise and Fall of Brilliant Pebbles 1. In United States Military History 1865 to the Present Day (pp. 329-376). Routledge.
Hitchens, T., & Samson, V. (2004). Space-based interceptors: still not a good idea. Georgetown journal of international affairs, 21-29.
National Research Council. (2012). Making sense of ballistic missile defense: An assessment of concepts and systems for US boost-phase missile defense in comparison to other alternatives. National Academies Press.
Borger, J. (2005). Bush likely to back weapons in space. The Guardian, 19.
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Special thanks to: Bernard McGee, James Sanger, Elliot Miller, Brian Busbee, Jerome Barakos M.D., Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, Chris LaClair, John H. Austin Jr., OnlineBookClub.org, Eric Sexton, John Kiehl, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Mike Schneider, John Bauer, Jim Buckmaster, Juan Benet, Sunil Nagaraj, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Cy ‘kkm’ K’Nelson, Sam Lutfi
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Written by Petr Lebedev, Derek Muller, and Emily Zhang
Filmed by Trenton Oliver, Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, Emily Zhang, Raquel Nuno and Eddie Lopez
Animation by Mike Radjabov, Fabio Albertelli and Jonny Hyman
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Slow Motion Camera: Shawn Sanders and Anthony Corrales
Sandcastle Timelapse by Greg LeBon and Archisand
Phantom rental from Panny Hire LA
Helicopter Pilots: Rick Shuster and Cliff Fleming
Helicopter Safety Officer: Ryan Hosking
FPV Drone Pilots: Sammie Saing and Josh Ewalt
Production Assistants: Roman Bacvic and Eddie Lopez
Intern: Katie Barnshaw
Additional video/photos supplied by Pond5 and Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang
Wish there was a point in the experiment that the goal switch from accuracy to “lets see how big crater get from dropping really high” and proceed to have everyone really far away until it lands.
Yes. The Mythbusters way! I thought that’s why Adam Savage was with them 🙂
That what my thought was during half of the video, this exactly. Sad that they didn’t went with it.
Yes. This!
despite that the video is amazing by itself, I have to say that it feels a little bit misleading and even to a point of clickbait with what was shown at the end. The desert is big enough to calculate the safety area of the rod from a certain height. and drones could be taking all the shots from different angles and completely safe from the outcome.
I was thinking the same.
My favourite part is where Adam Savage appears out of nowhere, as if desert explosion tests just summon him 😂
he didn’t, that clip was from a previous video
hahaha yeah I thought the same thing!
Right
He spawns there what do you mean? The wild Adam Savage is native to the Californian desert.
You mean they don’t?
I think your main problem is you’re hanging it on a loose rope (strap thing) below the helicopter and just letting it swing in the wind, it would be far better off with a less flexible holding device, even pushing it out of the helicopter by hand would change the trajectory less.
Or even a shorter pendulum
This is the continuation of Veritasium’s inevitable slide into mass-market, dumbed down content that began as soon as Adam Savage got involved. Too many producers, too much output, falling standards.
A hook with a release would have been enough.
Or a much longer strap to get it out of the prop wash but I don’t know how long that is. Also, why not drop something lighter to set the targeting offset due to the wind? Presumably you can scale something lighter that will have the about same movement in the wind. Or simply lift more than one weight at a time. Even in Ukraine, they shoot one projectile, correct and then hit the target.
whenever i have seen the military drop stuff out a plane they throw streamers on the first pass when directly over target, calculate wind and what ever then make a second pass with the actual stuff (sar kit, jumpers, etc.)
This is like the 3rd video of dropping stuff from a helicopter ive seen recently, AND ALL OF THEM DONT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND OR ACCOUNT FOR THE SWAYING EFFECT AND AIR TURBULENCE THAT’LL THROW OFF THE ACCURACY OF THE DROP!!!! Like seriously, thats the first thing i thought of before seeing any of those videos……why didnt they think of it
I think its more a matter of how much it costs to offset those issues? But still, a 8 foot tow-strap that looks like it came from someones trunk just wasnt a good call lmao
@Tractor Mad Films that’s what i was thinking… I was thinking about a latch mechanism inside a tube on the side so the passenger pressing the button can aim precisely with minimal horizontal momentum as it’s fixed and encased in the tubing +fins so it goes straight down (less horizontal air resistance who might deviate from target)
Not to mention the difference between this rod going at 200 mph versus an enormous rod travelling at Mach 10. They might as well drop a lollipop on a parking lot.
Half the problem is the length of that damn strap, if it could be mounted solidly to the release mechanism there would be much less sway/none, it’s like they’re not recognising that when it’s swaying and they release it the object already now has horizontal momentum so it will never drop straight down
@Barnabás Decsi yepp
I’m surprised to see Adam Savage in this. I would have thought he’d have countered a lot of the basic errors of assumption that made this delivery system impossible, simply from the pendulum effect of the drop to the reliance on the accuracy of civilian GPS and the aerodynamic requirements of the projectile.
This is a seriously complicated problem.
@Devoarco this seemed much easier tho
@Jackferson not illegal, just ‘illegal’ to distribute the information
I wonder if this was some kind of joke or lesson, like he’s going to do another video explaining the why?
@Devoarco hard and probably illegal
reminds me a little bit of the egg drop video released by mark rober recently. Astonishingly it’s very hard to create precision strike / guided missles.
I’m convinced Adam Savage just spawns in the desert, like he shows up out of nowhere and so casually too.
At what speed does an object gain an impact energy equal to an equal mass of the most powerful explosive?
In other words, at what speed of impactor does it make sense to replace your explosive warhead with solid matter such as lead or tungsten?
@Cristian Baluta Wikipedia defines explosion as “a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy”. High speed projectiles can definitely explode. Search for US Navy rail gun tests.
I’d assume that a metal rod also has greater penetrative power than a conventional explosive as well, so that might be a tactically relevant consideration.
Is there any proof out there that the kinetic energy is explosive? I don’t think you’re gonna see any explosion unless it’s hitting something explosive
The explosion will always be less than the fuel energy used to lift the object.
I suggest you use the Potential Energy at the height release PE = mass * gravity * height This allows you to roughly approximate the amount of KE energy at impact as well as the velocity of the falling object. This excludes and air resistance or external forces such as wind. Remember to keep your calculation in SI units. 1 ton of TNT is equal to 4.184×109 J *** remember that KE + PE = 0
I would like to see this experiment done again with a simple GPS guiding system on steerable tail fins and a rocket motor that is activated when the projectile is released from the helicopter so it has kinetic energy closer to the real thing i.e. so it’s faster than terminal velocity. Combine with another YouTuber that has experience with GPS guided model craft and rockets.
I don’t think any consumer-available rocket motor would have any significant effect on the speed of a projectile this massive.
Common sense, if you want to hit a target with a projectile it must have an onboard navigation and propulsion system. Practically speaking, the rods cannot intercept an icbm or bomb a silo.
I find it funny that Adam Savage is in this video, and it’s not even mentioned. I’m just used to him being the one talking to a camera out in the desert, busting a myth.
Haha. I thought this had all the hallmarks of a myth busters episode, then he popped up!
@Kazaha ツ So that is a thing. Thank you for confirming lol
He just spawns whenever you do a science experiment in the desert
@MrBeest is ruining the planet[recent vid explains] wow man no need to flex your 6 alts
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