Chapter 113: Icebergs Breaker
Electromagnetic weapons firing range.
On the vast wilderness, an iceberg stood majestically.
Such icebergs are common on Ganymede. This is because Ganymede has abundant water and extremely low temperatures.
Compared to ordinary rocky peaks, these icebergs actually have a very short lifespan. Due to internal geological movements within Ganymede, ocean currents beneath the thick ice layers, frequent asteroid impacts, and tidal gravity from Jupiter, such icebergs might form in just a few thousand years and then disappear in only a few hundred years.
But at least while they exist, they stand just as majestically and are as indestructible as rocky peaks.
The iceberg in front of them was over a hundred meters tall. It was composed of ice even harder than rock. Because it was mixed with many impurities, it appeared entirely black, looking as if it were cast from steel.
Facing such a massive mountain, the most powerful model of the eighth-generation electromagnetic cannon researched by Tom was towed by a heavy truck to a spot approximately one thousand meters away from it.
Yes, even the largest model of the electromagnetic cannon was mobile. This was because Tom adopted a modular design when he first designed the electromagnetic cannon, making them self-contained and usable simply by connecting to an external power source.
This helped improve the overall reliability of the spaceship—even if the electromagnetic cannon broke, it would only affect itself and not the whole.
At this moment, this giant electromagnetic cannon, with a diameter of one meter and a length of 50 meters, had completed its installation and securing.
Compared to the first-generation electromagnetic cannon, its overall mass was greatly reduced, and its diameter was also significantly smaller, but the barrel length remained unchanged.
It was even longer than the second-generation electromagnetic cannon.
This was certainly because it was the largest model, and also because to accelerate the projectile to a sufficiently high speed, there must be enough acceleration time, which means the barrel must be as long as possible.
Thick cables stretched from the power grid, busily connected to the electromagnetic cannon by the clones.
The ammunition bay door opened, and a quantity of oblate spheroid projectiles, manufactured with special processes to possess greater penetration and lethality, were poured in.
These oblate spheroid projectiles were about one centimeter long, with an overall mass of approximately 5 grams, comparable to some gunpowder gun bullets.
There were many of them, a full 1 million, with a total mass reaching five tons.
After all checks were completed, the charging button was pressed, and a slight tremor came from the ground beneath their feet.
Tom knew that if the air density on Ganymede were a bit higher, he should also be able to hear a low hum.
That was the sound of internal equipment starting to work, with powerful electricity being converted into other types of energy.
In just three seconds, firing preparations were complete, and the firing process began.
The next moment, a projectile automatically entered the firing chamber from the ammunition bay.
Within the firing chamber, or barrel, with an inner diameter of 90 centimeters, it was lifted by an invisible force, suspended in the center of the barrel, and then began to accelerate rapidly under the propulsion of this invisible force.
In just fifty meters, it accelerated from an initial speed of zero to a current speed of a full 15 kilometers per second!
The acceleration reached 2,250 kilometers per square second! Because acceleration is equivalent to a gravitational field, during the acceleration process, this projectile experienced gravity up to approximately 230,000 times that of Earth’s gravity!
If a spaceship were to accelerate at this rate, disregarding relativistic and other physical effects, it would only take about two minutes to accelerate to the speed of light!
This acceleration was undoubtedly extremely astonishing. However, Tom knew that it could only be achieved in weapon devices like the electromagnetic cannon, and current technology could at most only accelerate matter with a mass of 5 grams.
Under such powerful acceleration, this projectile completed the entire acceleration process in only about 6.7 milliseconds, and then flew forward violently at a speed of 15 kilometers per second.
This speed gave it 562,500 joules of energy. The most powerful gunpowder gun Tom had previously developed had a bullet kinetic energy of only about 30,000 joules, meaning the kinetic energy of this electromagnetic cannon projectile was approximately 19 times greater!
In just one-fifteenth of a second, this projectile crossed the one-thousand-meter distance between the electromagnetic cannon and the iceberg, violently impacting the iceberg.
The next moment, this steel-hard, pitch-black iceberg was directly struck by this mere five-gram projectile, creating a huge ice cave, as if it had suffered a meteor impact.
But this was not the end, merely the beginning.
After only a 0.02-second interval, a second electromagnetic cannon projectile of the same mass and speed whistled in again, hitting next to the previous ice cave.
After that, came the third, the fourth...
The fierce bombardment continued for over five hours, until all one million projectiles had been fired.
If it were an ordinary gunpowder gun, firing projectiles at a rate of up to 3,000 rounds per minute, it would have to stop after just a few minutes due to barrel overheating. But for this electromagnetic cannon, such a firing rate was merely ordinary.
This was because it used superconducting technology for power transmission internally, resulting in extremely low overall heat generation. Even if it fired for a whole day, there would be no overheating of certain components.
The diffused dust and debris gradually dissipated as the electromagnetic cannon ceased firing. Tom then saw that the previously majestic and seemingly indestructible iceberg had now been cut in half.
Only the lower approximately 100 meters remained. The upper 200-plus meters of the mountain had completely collapsed.
Feeling the powerful might of this electromagnetic cannon, Tom was filled with joy.
He knew that he finally possessed a weapon suitable for space combat.
"Electromagnetic cannon weapons are good, but they consume too much electricity."
Tom sighed in his heart: "Five hours of firing, a total mass of only five tons, yet the power consumption reached a terrifying 500,000 kilowatt-hours, almost comparable to a supercomputer.
But it doesn’t matter, it’s acceptable. Anyway, the nuclear fission reactor has been miniaturized and can be carried on the ship."
After completing the firing test of this largest electromagnetic cannon model, Tom then brought out many other electromagnetic cannons of various lengths, different muzzle diameters, and even different projectile masses, and resumed bombardment against another iceberg.
At this moment, electromagnetic cannon technology was largely mature. At another experimental base, another piece of long-awaited good news arrived for Tom.
High-speed radar technology had finally achieved a breakthrough!