Star Wars research: test firing of a railgun (Electromagnetic Launcher) at Maxwell Laboratories Inc. , San Diego, California, as part of the U. S. Gov

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Star Wars research: test firing of a railgun (Electromagnetic Launcher) at Maxwell Laboratories Inc. , San Diego, California, as part of the U. S. Government's research programme into space-based weapons capable of intercepting ballistic missiles electromagnetism to accelerate a projectile towards its target, as opposed to rifles or rockets which use chemical energy as a propellant. Here, a 0. 3 pound plastic projectile is fired at about 3 kilometers per second (7, 000 miles per hour) to penetrate a 1-inch steel plate (top).

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Size: 3543px × 2665px
Photo credit: © U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: combat, defense, electromagnetic, electromagnetism, firing, gun, laboratories, launcher, maxwell, program, programme, rail, research, sdi, space, star, test, war, wars