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Anyone got a Hydrogen gun?

Roc Doc

Roc Doc

2A SNBI
Joined
May 20, 2020
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580
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Way out West.
Fucking kid is making what are essentially spudguns for the military...if he doesn't off himself first. :laughing: From Forbes;




TOPLINE​
At 19 years old, Ethan Thornton had a grand vision for a new company: He’d do away with the U.S. military’s centuries-long reliance on gunpowder munitions by developing an array of hydrogen-powered weaponry.He named the company Mach Industries and, after dropping out of MIT, began R&D work on an artillery that could be replenished by hydrogen generators deployed on the frontlines, claiming it would give the military a critical battlefield advantage.
Investors swarmed over what appeared to be an up-and-coming defense tech company led by a visionary teenage dropout. Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire co-led a $5 million seed funding round last summer—the venture firm’s first check issued to a defense company. Three months later, Bedrock’s managing partner Geoff Lewis led a $79 million series A investment, valuing the nascent startup at more than $300 million.
But Mach’s giddy financing had been prefaced by a troubling, and near fatal, misstep. Months earlier, Thornton and another employee were almost killed while testing a Mach weapon. Four former employees with knowledge of the matter told Forbes that Thornton was reaching into a blast chamber surrounding a hydrogen-powered gun when the gas unexpectedly ignited, blowing up the machinery and sending a spray of shrapnel across the room. Thornton was miraculously unharmed, but a colleague helping with the test was rushed to the hospital with hundreds of pieces of metal in his body. (The employee recovered, though shrapnel remains in his body.)
Beyond hydrogen-powered firearms that work like pneumatic potato cannons, Mach had sold investors on “Prometheus,” a mobile hydrogen generator that could be deployed on the battlefield. But, according to three former employees, the device was scrapped when Mach couldn’t figure out a cost-effective way to produce aluminum fuel necessary for hydrogen production.​
WHY IT MATTERS​
Mach is part of a new cohort of defense tech companies, led by young, patriotic entrepreneurs looking to build businesses serving America’s national security interests. They’re driving a defense tech boom engorged with VC funding; between 2018 and 2023, $100 billion in venture funding poured into the sector, per Pitchbook. But here, Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” ethos seems an unwise approach to building weapons. Interviews with nine current and former Mach employees reveal a chaotic early-stage company that failed to deliver on the vision investors were expecting, compounded by safety issues and a juvenile approach to leadership.​
 
I'M ENDEVOURING ON A PLAN FOR STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH THE MOON!!!!!

To be followed by cold fusion....

Is there a shortage of nitro-cellulous (sulfuric acid and cellulous)? I guess it is a "Why should I sit when I can stand" situation.

Carry on.
 
This reminds me of a flame thrower. It’s all fun and games except for the tank of fuel on your back.
Just my thoughts, I’ve never even seen one in person.
 
Chkn said:
It like a regular cannon but with extra steps. What am I missing?
Click to expand...
light gas guns are a thing and have been for a long time

you can only get like 5500-6k tops FPS out of conventional propellant
it has to do with the speed of sound in the gas, light molecular weight gasses have a higher speed of sound, so they'll push projectiles faster
 
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