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So, guided missiles exist, but they are expensive and it's
hard to carry more than a few. Besides which, using them
for hunting game is probably excessive.
Other guided munitions also exist, both in fiction and in
reality, but are non-reusable and, because the hardware
has to survive high
acceleration, expensive.
Why, therehence, has nobody suggested guided arrows?
The tubular shaft of an arrow is more than amply sufficient
to contain the necessary electronics. Arrows already have
flights, which could be used to steer with. Arrows are
often reuseable. And the acceleration on an arrow, both
on launch and on impact, is far less than that on a bullet.
It should, therefore, be possible to make an arrow which
would track a laser dot.
Mons Meg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mons_Meg
A piece of ordnance in need of some modern maintenance. [Wrongfellow, Dec 02 2013]
[link]
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May as well add a miniature rocket engine as well, which ignites after the bowstring acceleration stops. |
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This idea would add to the already astonishingly creative
collection of hunter's excuses. "I just missed this awesome buck,
it was a great shot but Gene spilled pabst on the laser designator" |
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I just thought "this can't work because arrow fletching is
arranged to induce the arrow to spin, for stability, and any
course corrections would have to be exquisitely well timed to
have the intended result" then I googled how fast bullets,
presumeably including guided ones, spin. It's up to 300,000 rpm.
How in the name of Greek juggery do they guide those bullets? |
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(+) Now if you can come up with hunting garb which won't attract these things hunters will flock your way. |
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The next step is guided cannonballs, I suppose. |
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Do you reckon it would be possible to retrofit a laser designator to the [link]? |
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Lobbing a 20 inch sphere of granite with millimetre accuracy at 2 miles range would be a very impressive achievement. |
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//I just thought "this can't work because arrow
fletching is arranged to induce the arrow to spin,
for stability, and any course corrections would
have to be exquisitely well timed to have the
intended result"// |
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Arrow rotation is on the order of 10s or 100s of
RPM, meaning that deflections need to happen on
the scale of tens or hundreds of milliseconds -
pretty easy. |
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But wait! What an I saying! The point of a
steerable arrow is that it doesn't _need_ to spin to
stay on course! |
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yup. The steerable bullets are smooth-bore non-
spinning too. |
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However, as a spin off.... you could use an artillery
shell to replace centrifuges. Simply load up the
samples, fire, and go and collect your density-
separated objects from the smoking crater 11 miles
down range. |
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You don't think the impact of landing might mix up the separated samples? |
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Most arrows don't spin, anyway, in my experience. |
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"From that place, or from that circumstance;
thence; also, on that account." |
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I recon that's some pretty fancy word slingin' there
partner. |
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Anyway, I'd buy a guided arrow system.
Sounds like fun forsooth. [+] |
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// Most arrows don't spin, anyway, in my experience. // |
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Mine do. Every arrow I've ever seen has. Does your
experience include arrows made in the last century? |
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//Does your experience include arrows made in the last century?// Yes, mid-90s to be precise. |
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Just checking. Modern arrows don't spin very fast, but if
properly fletched they should complete at least one
revolution for every twenty or thirty feet of flight. Arrows
wobble a bit after release, and the spin corrects that. |
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//A spinning arrow makes directions very hard to
follow. [~]// |
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As I indicated in one of the superposed
annotations,
the slow rate of spin would make it easy to time
directional movements of the fletches.
Overmore,
the spinning is actually unnecessary in a guided
arrow. |
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Cop: This is a one way street! |
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Driver: But I was only going one way. |
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Cop: Didn't you see the arrows? |
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Driver: I didn't even see the Indians! |
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I think [21 Quest] was making a similar little jokule. |
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Recent developments in small super capacitors could
power the electronics AND a few seconds of
propulsion (by electric ducted fan). This would
mitigate some of the velocity loss incurred when you
make significant course correction. |
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Also, can we have the arrow head with all-flying
blades acting as canards? Pleasepleaseplease? |
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Sure, why not. It's not as if the archer has to hold onto the
damn thing at any point. |
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Also, the arrow head blades can carry on wiggling
around once embedded, combine this with a little
force and vibration from the rear-mounted EDF,
should provide extra tissue damage. |
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This idea started me thinking about a fletch-less arrow
stabilized by air channels cut into the shaft, or even tiny
ducts running up through the core and slightly compressing
the air flow before releasing it from angled ports in the
nock. |
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I'm not sure where you expect to find these tiny
ducks, or how they'll stand up to the acceleration. |
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Do you think early-80's pop legends ABC could be
persuaded to come out of retirement to rework
their song 'Poison Arrow' as 'Guided Arrow' for the TV
commercial for this product? |
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//ABC could be persuaded to come out of retirement |
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I'd pay money not to see them come out of retirement. |
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