Before the US military became known for its special weapons used in war, the Soviet Union had established its name when it comes to creating missiles.
When Sputnik was launched, the transcontinental country unveiled its very first intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM.
Indeed, the Soviet Union was miles ahead of other countries when it comes to nuclear expertise. The space weapon that it created was later called Project Thor coined by Jerry Pournelle, a researcher.
At present, a YouTuber has attempted to test out how powerful is this weapon. Let's find out how his experiment went as he recreated this weapon into a smaller version.
How Dangerous is this Space Weapon?
According to Veritasium, the space weapon is so dangerous that it can hit anything on the planet in just 15 minutes.
It's enough to crush the silos and even the sturdiest bunkers used in war. So much for that, it's also capable of intercepting ICBM in mid-air, so just imagine what it can do to the smaller weapons in existence.
As a measure to test its capability, an engineer decided to simulate how a piece of tungsten can drop in just a few minutes from space.
Since it's hard to copy the actual process of its travel, the team arrived with the idea of recreating a smaller version of this weapon.
The weapon which is also known as Rods from God is enough to generate a massive impact upon landing on its target.
To be clear, these tungsten rods are not technically bombs or explosives. They just have stored kinetic energy that gets triggered when they hit a surface.
Some video games depict the impact of weapons infused with kinetic energy. At first, it's hard to imagine that it's possible. Because of this problem, a YouTuber thinks that it's high time to try if it will work or not.
How the Experiment Went For the Team
To see the extent of the damage of the Rods of the Gods, the team hired a team of professional sand castle builders to emulate the popular buildings around the world.
The team also placed an artificial pool in the middle of the desert as an additional target. The goal is to hit it from 500 meters.
According to the YouTuber, a small piece of the weapon is said to contain half a million joules of kinetic energy.
The clip also showed that its impact will be greater than the explosion of a kilogram of TNT.
The thing is the craters that we see on the moon's surface are caused by kinetic explosions. When asteroids hit it, the explosions spread symmetrically and they blow out everything radially.
For the pool drop attempt, the team saw that the weapon penetrated through the artificial pool. Without any doubt, it was a huge impact that was created instantly in its wake.
By the time the team tested it on the sand castle, some buildings were left with small cracks, but it did not entirely destroy the structures.
It only goes to show that this weapon is all about localized damage. If your aim is massive destruction, then this is not definitely the best weapon to use.
