Can you "Overload" a Laserwarhead?

Question is the Topic.

The problem with manticorian missles is their fusion reactor. The bomb in the warhead use a kind of fusion fuel like the reactor in the engine. Is any reactor fuel left in the tanks at the time, the warhead arrive his target, it would support the explosion of the warhead.

So, would a Laser Warhead still work, if the bomb inside turns from a 50 Megaton into a 500 Megaton bomb?

Maldorian wrote:Question is the Topic.

The problem with manticorian missles is their fusion reactor. The bomb in the warhead use a kind of fusion fuel like the reactor in the engine. Is any reactor fuel left in the tanks at the time, the warhead arrive his target, it would support the explosion of the warhead.

So, would a Laser Warhead still work, if the bomb inside turns from a 50 Megaton into a 500 Megaton bomb?

I don't think any remaining fuel would add to the warhead's power as it wouldn't be confined in the implosion and dispersed by the explosion.

Even if it did affect/enhance the warhead, I don't think it would make a great deal of difference to the lasing rods -- they're going to be eaten by the fireball in about the same amount of time whatever the strength of the bomb in the warhead.

They use the same reactor that runs a recon drone for a week, so it likely has lots of fuel left all the time. And if it was useful they would incorporate it.

David's whole approach to reactors is very odd at times. You can calculate, from the description of the damage of the failed reactor during Honor's escape from the peeps prison planet, the energy released by a failed reactor and it's totally absurd. I did the math in a post here long ago and it's conservatively many millions of megatons.

Weird Harold wrote:

Maldorian wrote:Question is the Topic.

The problem with manticorian missles is their fusion reactor. The bomb in the warhead use a kind of fusion fuel like the reactor in the engine. Is any reactor fuel left in the tanks at the time, the warhead arrive his target, it would support the explosion of the warhead.

So, would a Laser Warhead still work, if the bomb inside turns from a 50 Megaton into a 500 Megaton bomb?

I don't think any remaining fuel would add to the warhead's power as it wouldn't be confined in the implosion and dispersed by the explosion.

Even if it did affect/enhance the warhead, I don't think it would make a great deal of difference to the lasing rods -- they're going to be eaten by the fireball in about the same amount of time whatever the strength of the bomb in the warhead.

I think Weird Harold is right - it's more about the equipment designed to refocus and transmit the initial blast. I don't recall the exact details, but the mod-G to the MK16 was an improved focusing component of relatively trivial mass such that it could be easily retro-fitted to all existing missiles. And it roughly tripled the amount of power delivered to the target without touching the warhead at all.

Weird Harold wrote:

Maldorian wrote:Question is the Topic.

The problem with manticorian missles is their fusion reactor. The bomb in the warhead use a kind of fusion fuel like the reactor in the engine. Is any reactor fuel left in the tanks at the time, the warhead arrive his target, it would support the explosion of the warhead.

So, would a Laser Warhead still work, if the bomb inside turns from a 50 Megaton into a 500 Megaton bomb?

I don't think any remaining fuel would add to the warhead's power as it wouldn't be confined in the implosion and dispersed by the explosion.

Even if it did affect/enhance the warhead, I don't think it would make a great deal of difference to the lasing rods -- they're going to be eaten by the fireball in about the same amount of time whatever the strength of the bomb in the warhead.

First, the warhead has grav focusing lenses, the fusion power plants do not. with 50% of the bombs enery focusing onto 1% of its area, that would give a 50 meg bomb the same energy as if it was a 2.5 giga ton bomb. Next to that, even a 500K ton bomb adds less than 20%

The fuel is probably explosive when set off in close proximity to a fusion bomb. IMO that is the only thing that makes sense for a ship fusion plant explosion being so destructive.

as far as the amount of fuel, a recon drone needs an endurance of a week, a missile of less than an hour. Missiles are space challenged, so there is no reason to put in a 150 liter (40 gal) fuel tank when a 1 liter (1 quart) tank is all you need.

In OTL a thermonuclear bomb uses a fission reaction from plutonium or uranium to start a fusion reaction using isotopes of hydrogen. To say the process is complex is a massive understatement. When the warhead goes off I'm sure the fusion reactor is destroyed and this will produce additional explosive force, but it will not contribute extra to the energy leaving the laser rods. Bit like if ready use ammunition explodes in a naval turret just as the gun fires, it won't increase muzzle velocity.

Maldorian wrote:Question is the Topic.

The problem with manticorian missles is their fusion reactor. The bomb in the warhead use a kind of fusion fuel like the reactor in the engine. Is any reactor fuel left in the tanks at the time, the warhead arrive his target, it would support the explosion of the warhead.

So, would a Laser Warhead still work, if the bomb inside turns from a 50 Megaton into a 500 Megaton bomb?

There are a couple ways to increase the power of the laserheads:

1. Increase the yield of the warhead. A Mk-23 has a more powerful warhead than a Mk-16 has a more powerful warhead than a Mk-13.

2. Increase the size of the lasing rods contained in the laserheads. Mk-23 and Mk-16 laserheads are 5 meters long. Mk-13 laserheads are 3 meters long.

3. Focus more of the warhead's x-rays forward towards the laserheads.

The Mod G does 1 and 3. 2 isn't practical, as you then increase the length of the missile, requiring a complete redesign of the launching equipment, magazines, and basically about 50% of the interior of the ship.

The fusion reactor detonating adds very little to the energy directed towards the laserhead, as it is behind the focusing array.

There is also the slight matter of any explosion from the reactor being *behind* the grav lenses.

The grav lenses, which focus the energy of the blast, are on the back end of the warhead and produce a (I think) cone of force which directs the explosion towards the lasing rods. I doubt any additional explosion behind the lenses would get through.

I dont recall the exact location, might have been in In Fire Forged, but it's mentioned somewhere that increasing the warhead yield only increases lasing power up to a point. If you go too high, the lasing rods get consumed too quickly to lase properly.

The problem is one of focusing.

The reactor fuel is going to produce some energy if it's in close proximity to the detonating warhead. Anything that will yield energy under neutron bombardment will increase the power of the boom. (Consider: Tsar Bomba was detonated at 50mt. Replace the inert case with one made of U-238 and you get a very dirty 100mt.)

You face the minor problem that the reactor isn't inside the focusing system. This would be easy enough to overcome--direct the fuel into the warhead chamber just before you fire the warhead. The boom power would go up.

Unfortunately, the best outcome here is that the the extra power is basically wasted, the worst outcome is the focusing system fails and the lasers are flashlights instead of shipkillers.

The problem is size is critical. The focusing system isn't going to be built to focus a boom any bigger than the warhead--but the extra energy is being liberated outside that zone. Maybe it just doesn't focus, maybe it fries the focusing system entirely.

For any one not familiar with how nukes work - the timing of every event in a nuclear explosion is insanely precise. In some cases nanoseconds are not precise enough. The positioning of items is also insanely exact. Why - the detonation is destroying the very objects controlling the detonation or boosting the reaction. You must have the right parts, in the right places when the destructive wave(s) pass through. Too close, and you throw off the timing of another part - or you absorb too much or too little energy.

In the case of the missile, the nodes shut down, and the RCS points the missile on it's last position - at the right moment, the lasing rods separate and maneuver a set distance from the main body of the missile. The grav generator fires up and The warhead explodes. The gravity field focuses the nuke's explosion onto the laserheads, and the nuke destroys the gravfield emitter. The laserheads absorb energy, then pulse AS THEY explode.

Somewhere in here the nuke's energy slips past the gravfield, flashboils off the spare hydrogen fuel (it's just lightly pressurized hydrogen, afterall), and tears at the nuc reactor (whose shielding might - or might not - protect it for more than a couple of milliseconds.) When it does explode, it happens as a second event milliseconds or more after the first. When the crest of it's energy wave hits the laserheads, they are already gone, immolated by the energy absorbed from the first blastwave. Timing, is everything....