Assessment and Research of Destructive Effects of the Space-based Weapon

With technological advancements, the operational space expands into outer space. As a result, the space-based weapon “Rods from Gods” was developed, which is expected to become an important strategic force in future warfare due to its extraordinary lethality. Therefore, evaluating the destructive efficacy of this space-based weapon is necessary. Based on the available information, the space-based weapon “Rods from Gods” was reported to have a weight of several tons, a length of 6.1 m, and a diameter of 0.3 m. This study aims to calculate the penetration speed of the weapon and assess its destructive capability using software and the concept of TNT equivalent. This study primarily focuses on constructing two models: the projectile orbital and damage assessment models. In the projectile model, we used MATLAB function ode45 and developed a custom code to calculate the penetration speed of the space-based weapon “Rods from Gods,” which was determined to be 3108.00 m/s. Additionally, we used FlightGear to validate the accuracy of the results. Considering the high speed of the weapon, traditional physical methods are inadequate for evaluating the damage caused. Hence, we used the software to visualize the damage outcomes of the weapon and assess them using the concept of TNT equivalent. Furthermore, we developed two detailed models: the projectile penetration and TNT equivalent evaluation models. In the projectile penetration model, the software Ansys/le-PrePost aided us in visualizing the damage outcomes. In the TNT equivalent evaluation model, we plotted the change in the penetration depth, which measured 20.2573 m for the weapon. Additionally, we plotted the change in TNT weight, determining the equivalent TNT weight of the weapon to be 32.3289 tons. After the analysis of this study, the destructive effect of space-based kinetic energy weapon is great, and compared with nuclear weapon, there is no nuclear radiation, so it is important to evaluate the destructive effect of space-based kinetic energy weapon.