For those of you not in the know, Gerald Bull was a Canadian superartillery designer working on Project Babylon for Saddam Hussein. Project Babylon was a project designed to build a supergun that could economically launch a satellite into space. I think the most likely way of keeping Bull alive would be for the First Gulf War to not actually happen.
WI: Gerald Bull not killed and Project Babylon goes through?
- Thread starter DirtyCommie
- Start date
Well, Iraq gets a status boost as they now have global bombardment capability.
It makes their nuke programe much more threatening to everyone.
They could start making some money putting up satelights, although the satelights would ahve to be specifically designed.
Mmm, could lead to copycats, thus more and cheaper launch capablity.
Would force a least a little more respect for odd ball space ideas, such as space fountains or beanstalks.
With a unique space capablity and the respect that would go with it, Saddam might be less aggressive in foriegn policy areas.
Or he might be more confident and thus more trouble.
It makes their nuke programe much more threatening to everyone.
They could start making some money putting up satelights, although the satelights would ahve to be specifically designed.
Mmm, could lead to copycats, thus more and cheaper launch capablity.
Would force a least a little more respect for odd ball space ideas, such as space fountains or beanstalks.
With a unique space capablity and the respect that would go with it, Saddam might be less aggressive in foriegn policy areas.
Or he might be more confident and thus more trouble.
Macragge1
Banned
I never got why they were trying to make a space-gun a good 40 years after ICBMs were invented - other than, of course, the fact that Gerald Bull was nuts.
If they do build it, that might butterfly Saddam's desire to do Kuwait, but it's unlikely. If he does attack, the gun's not gonna act as a deterrent - in fact, it's far less effective than SCUDS (can't move around) and it'll get an airstrike in the first minutes of the war.
If they do build it, that might butterfly Saddam's desire to do Kuwait, but it's unlikely. If he does attack, the gun's not gonna act as a deterrent - in fact, it's far less effective than SCUDS (can't move around) and it'll get an airstrike in the first minutes of the war.
Well, if you find a way to bypass the problems of barrel wearout and the necessity to replace the barrel after a certain number of shots are fired (perhaps with new materials?), this kind of space-gun could actually be a very cost-effective solution to bring stuff into low-earth orbit.
Yup. Also, you really don't have to worry about high-pollution rocket fuel. Anyway, so. Is there any way to stop the Gulf War, while still keeping Gerald Bull alive and Project Babylon running?
I think the best way to keep Bull from getting a bullet would be for Canad and the United States to keep funding his work. Maybe the Canadian government decides that this is a good way to run a space program on the cheap and decides to cough up some money.