Argumentative Essay On Railguns

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Recently, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com, said in an interview that he hopes to lay the foundation for a future of heavy industry in space. He suggests that within the coming centuries, portions of space will be zoned for heavy industry, while the Earth will become exclusively residential with some zones for light industry. There are great upsides to this concept, as solar power will not be hindered as it is on Earth, and there will not be an environmental impact on the home planet. Although, the prospect appears to be technologically and financially unfeasible in the current time. However, the introduction of 3D printers has made it more practical to begin smaller scale production of tools in space necessary for inhabitants of the International …show more content…

They use a power supply that produces around one million amps to create an electric current, which is then transferred to the rails of the weapon. The current flowing through one of the parallel rails ultimately produces a current that accelerates a projectile and then exits through the second rail. Railguns are currently being developed by the United States Military because they provide a range of advantages over conventional artillery. For example, railguns are able to launch munitions at higher velocities than explosive powered weapons, which results in a higher destructive force and a less expensive way to propel such objects. NASA is also experimenting with the concept of using a railgun to launch small payloads into space, which would provide a much cheaper alternative to conventional rocket …show more content…

Ion propulsion operates with a high ratio of thrust to fuel consumption, also referred to as high specific impulses, which allows satellites and spacecraft to have higher operational longevity because they are not dependent on large amounts of chemical fuel. Ion propulsion is the result of the ionization of propellant, which occurs through electron bombardment, resulting in the release of electrons to form a positively charged ion. Those ions are later accelerated and form an ion beam out of the craft’s thruster to propel it at a high velocity. Current systems are capable of reaching speeds of 25000 mph, and future systems are being developed to reduce the cost and trip time of future

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