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Gods Rods

IIRC the US Military did look into such a thing during the 50s or 60s.

I do know that when the US Army Field Artillery was testing the original MLRS they loaded the "warheads" with steel rods. I also heard the story about the barn that was annihilated close to Fort Sill when one of those tests shot "out of safe" (the rumor was they shot 180 degrees in the wrong direction, and it destroyed the barn).

Steel Rain, baby, Steel Rain!
 
Been used in Sci Fi books for years. Just good old rocks can do the same thing as long as they are big/dense enough to make it to Earth from orbit without burning up.

Check out the book Footfall by the authors of Lucifer's Hammer (One of the BEST books ever)

Didn't one of the Call of Duty/Ghosts video games have this as the core scenario?
Try "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein.
Catapult on the moon, used to send moon rocks (lots of those available). Nice stable launch platform.
(Wait. Didn't China just ...)
 
The problem with a free-fall "rods from God" type weapon is that it takes AS MUCH ENERGY to lift it up into space as such a weapon can potentially deliver on impact with the ground.
That's even not counting the loss of velocity (and maybe mass) from encountering the atmosphere on the way back down.
 
Tungsten rods won't loose much if any mass from atmospheric r-entry. Kinetic energy strikes can be very precise, and the resulting explosion can be near nuclear levels, without all the bothersome radiation.
 
The problem with a free-fall "rods from God" type weapon is that it takes AS MUCH ENERGY to lift it up into space as such a weapon can potentially deliver on impact with the ground.
That's even not counting the loss of velocity (and maybe mass) from encountering the atmosphere on the way back down.
not if you are mining the moon and near earf asteroids.
 
GI Joe the movie used them I think. Watched a few videos on them and it was interesting but unless they were for misdirection the information was it is possible but not cost effective.
 
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