Weaponizing space craft

>>34969089
I have a few ideas
>Equip with a "Rods from God" system
>35mm Bushmaster which uses suspension from retracted landing gear as a dampener
>Payload bay holds a replica Tsar Bomba covered in ablative heat shield to survive re-entry
>removable landing gear when in orbit (done by astronauts) and replaced with a retractable rack to hold rockets or missiles
>nose cone decouples to reveal laser array to push projectiles to near relativistic speeds using a solar sail-type system
>astronauts outfitted with individual, 84mm or 105mm SBR recoilless rifles

Satellite-based electronic warfare

>>34969089
100 mil is only enough for like 1 missile...

>>34969104
>35mm Bushmaster which uses suspension from retracted landing gear as a dampener
that's dumb since it will only work in close rendezvous, you won't be able to achieve any significant accuracy past 20 km

>removable landing gear when in orbit (done by astronauts)
you want them to manipulate the landing gear? that is a very bad idea, the entire system is hydraulic. each wheel brake system has a 1,500 psi hydraulic system. the tires themselves are 300-315 psi.

>astronauts outfitted with individual, 84mm or 105mm SBR recoilless rifles
the parts will just weld themselves together upon firing, and the recoil will hurt the astronauts. eva suits have very poor mobility (you have to apply something like 1 pound force to your fingers just to curl them up against the pressure of the environmental control system), and there aren't many situations where you would need to shoot at anything.

100 million is not enough to even build one unit

>>34969089
>$100 million to outfit a space shuttle to be ready for space-to-space or space-to-ground combat
im pretty sure it is not enough money for that

>>34969303
$100mil wouldn't even get it out to the launch pad, let alone do anything to it.

File: article-2271525-1747F562000005DC-689_634x334.jpg (54KB, 634x334px) Image search: [Google]

54KB, 634x334px

>>34969089
sell the remaining space shuttles to North Korea

sit back and laugh when they Challenger themselves

>>34970317
Do they even possess the means to produce liquid hydrogen?

>>34970331
It's not hard to make liquid hydrogen

First make hydrogen via electrolysis then condense and compress it using high pressure and low temperature

rack of remote controlled suicide bomb rocket drones in the cargo hold and mini mirvs on the bottom in an explosive bolt spring tile system

>>34969089
>build a bunch of huge blowguns using stainless steel pipes and CO2 tanks
>load the blowguns with tungsten rods
>device an aiming system
>in orbit the shuttle rotates so that the payload bay is pointed towards the surface
>when target is in sights fire tungsten rods at it.
>tungsten rods coming down at terminal velocity obliterate the target & anything unlucky enough to be nearby.

>>34969089
Old Shuttles?
With 30 days maximum time on orbit, a Shuttle could be launched into a polar orbit that carries it over a particular hotspot daily.
Bring the External Tank all the way to orbit. Install an RCS maneuvering package, whipple shields and a nuclear space mine in the tank. The ET serves as a shield during shuttle operations in case of ASAT weapons. After landing, the ET continues daily overpasses of the critical site, providing limited monitoring and the ability to deorbit and EMP in the stratosphere above hot spot if needed. End of life, can be tugged to L1 for use in asteroid defense.
For ground monitoring and attack, this milShuttle has three items in the cargo bay. A small nuclear reactor, radar boom and a thicc FEL laser. During overpass, the radar provides centimeter scale SAR imagery; imagine if we had that with Best Korea right now. If things get hot in the hotspot, the laser provides instant attack ability. The biggest trick is making a series of capacitors and heatsinks so the laser can fire continuously during the three orbits that would be near the activity zone. Eight minutes of continuous 5MW laser carnage would be a sight to see.
>AFRL, hire me already.

Orbital area denial system
The payload bay is filled with thousands of tiny metal/graphite balls or flechettes.
They're palletized and each load has a rocket or explosive to energize the balls once they are put into orbit.

The shuttle dumps them out and they explode spreading the balls/flechettes over a wide area and destroying any satellite that conflicts with their orbit.

>>34969089
Accidentally spend the money on space exploration missions instead.

>>34970370
Do they even possess the means to produce liquid hydrogen?