Designing an apocalypse to order

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Kale

Bonus: Some of the satellites were secret tactical space-to-ground weapon platforms with kinetic kill warheads....(which) rain kinetic slugs down on various cities and other locations. The confusion of the orbital mess means that a tactical kinetic strike could come down pretty much anywhere on the planet.

Consider this idea requisitioned. Ta muchly.

[Kale]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

Consider this idea requisitioned. Ta muchly.

Additional reference to help get you moving:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment

For what you want the size of the crater is mostly proportional to the size of the projectile. The damage from a modest-sized rod would be city blocks, rather than entire cities. The potential lack of accuracy could lead to some odd locations being hit.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The Chicxulub impactor wiped out almost all large tetrapods, and is thought to have been at least 11 kilometers across, which is why I suggested a half-kilometer object.

Actually, there's a lot less certainty about exactly how that went down than you'd think from media coverage.

There are major impact sites, rivaling Chicxulub, that don't appear to be associated with a mass extinction at all in the fossil record, for ex.

Also, it's likely that the K-T extinction had multiple causes, with the impactor as the central theme. There are some indications in the fossil record, for ex, that dino populations and biodiversity were declining well before the impact.

Some hypotheses hold that the particular location of the impact is a huge factor in whether it produces a mass extinction or not.

My point is simply that reality is always a lot more complicated than popular imagery suggests.

[dcarson]

Chicxulub was apparently worse then you would expect for the size because it hit rocks that were high in sulfur and at an angle that would spread fire causing debris world wide. So global fires and massive amounts of sulfur compound particulates to cause global cooling and lack of sunlight.

[Anders]

It's amazing how much we can know about something that happened 65 million years ago.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

... There are some indications in the fossil record, for ex, that dino populations and biodiversity were declining well before the impact.

...

I'd read somewhat recently that that theory had taken a major hit. And that dinosaurs were not decreasing in populations right before KT impact.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Kale

Additional reference to help get you moving:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment

For what you want the size of the crater is mostly proportional to the size of the projectile. The damage from a modest-sized rod would be city blocks, rather than entire cities. The potential lack of accuracy could lead to some odd locations being hit.

<Slaps forehead>
I was a playtester for a hard science space combat boardgame (Attack Vector: Tactical). During it we discussed orbital bombardment quite a bit. IIRC, the term flying crowbars was used a lot. Mind you, the projectiles we discussed were smaller than the block demolishing ones to which you allude. Mind you, if your target is nuclear reactors, bridges, transportation hubs etc, a couple of small projectiles will hypothetically do the job.

[Kale]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

<Slaps forehead>
I was a playtester for a hard science space combat boardgame (Attack Vector: Tactical). During it we discussed orbital bombardment quite a bit. IIRC, the term flying crowbars was used a lot. Mind you, the projectiles we discussed were smaller than the block demolishing ones to which you allude. Mind you, if your target is nuclear reactors, bridges, transportation hubs etc, a couple of small projectiles will hypothetically do the job.

Quite a bit depends on velocity, so the exact orbit from which the projectile is released matters quite a bit. Project Thor proposed Tungsten rods about the size of telephone poles, which would definitely take out a city block or so depending on the orbit they were released from. Note you can also have projectiles that fragment before impact turning it into more of a shotgun blast. This spreads less damage over a wider area. The single big telephone pole is good for taking out underground bunkers and the like because it will dig a deeper crater.