A team assembles and fires a scaled prototype of a space gun designed to test technology for a larger Nevada system. A 4.5-pound projectile is accelerated by pressurized gas released through burst discs, with the focus on getting the mass-to-pressure ratio right rather than maximum speed. The launch succeeds.
First, we have a projectile that gets loaded into the barrel. We seal off both ends of the barrel with Mylar burst discs, and behind the projectile, we install a breech system that connects to a high-pressure tank. It'll pop a burst disc, release the gas from that high-pressure tank to rush down and push the projectile down the barrel. This projectile weighs almost exactly 4.5 pounds. It's a scaled-down version of the system we're going to build in Nevada. It's not optimized for speed. It's optimized for being the right ratio of mass to pressure that we would experience in Nevada as well.
You ready?
Like Reece, I'm still capable of joy under the right conditions.
We got the red light. All right, now just 3, 2, 1. Yep. 3, 2, 1.
Oh shit, that was satisfying.
