Hyper-Cobalt Rockets: The UEF's First Strike Weapon

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Hyper-Cobalt Rockets: The UEF's First Strike Weapon

Unread post by Rabid Southern Cross Fan »

Okay,

for years I've suggested the idea that the Hyper-Cobalt Rocket is, in fact, an FTL-capable weapons system. That it was a weapons platform, developed along with the "Lorelei" SigInt/CommInt Satellites, to give the UEF the capability of striking targets anywhere in the solar system. This was done to tip the balance and prevent a recurrence of the 1st Robotech War where Breetai showed up with his Aldo-class starfleet and proceeded to launch attacks before the UEF could properly move enough assets in theatre to blunt such an attack. This, along with patrols by units like the Liberty Observer Battlegroup would give the Earth enough of a warning and head start on any rogue Zentraedi forces that decided to go "a Viking".

Now, what proof do I have? First, the Hyper-prefix in almost every other instance (Hyperspace, Hyperspace Fold, Hyper-Communications, Hyper-Dimensional) indicates Faster-than-Light technology. And, if we're being honest, the "Hyper-Magnetic Particle Beam" Dana references in Danger Zone could well be predicated on some exotic FTL matter used in bringing down the City-ship.

Second, there is the fact the one time they're referenced, they're being launched AHEAD of the Final Offensive. In fact, they're being launched BEFORE The Masters even reach Earth's outer defense perimeter (which by Final Nightmare, should be beyond Lunar orbit).

Episode #58 Final Nightmare

MISSILE COMMAND: Attention all missile silos. Prepare Hyper-Cobalt Rockets for launch. Repeat. Prepare all rockets for launch. We are at T-minus 7 minutes and counting.

....................................................

THE NARRATOR: Meanwhile far above, as the Robotech Masters fleet approaches Earth's outer defense perimeter, their movements are being carefully monitored by the Moon Base ALuCE-1.

COLONEL GREEN: General Emerson, all of our scanners are lighting up like a Christmas tree. It looks like the entire enemy fleet is attacking!

GENERAL EMERSON: What, the entire fleet?

COLONEL ROCHELLE: Its true, sir. They're holding back nothing. It looks like they've launched every ship they have.

GENERAL EMERSON: Good lord!

COLONEL ROCHELLE: Battle stations, sir?

GENERAL EMERSON: Mmm...

COLONEL GREEN: Wait, I'm receiving some sort of message on the emergency frequency. Look, General Emerson, its Commander Leonard himself.

GENERAL EMERSON: Oh...yes Commander?

SUPREME COMMANDER LEONARD: General Emerson, you are aware of the fact the enemy has launched his entire fleet against us?

GENERAL EMERSON: Yes, sir.

SUPREME COMMANDER LEONARD: In our meeting just this morning, the Joint Chiefs agreed to a preemptive strike, but the aliens have beaten us to the punch. Now we mustn't let them get the first blow in!

GENERAL EMERSON: No, sir!

SUPREME COMMANDER LEONARD: I want you to punish them for this! I'm depending upon your units to neutralize their primary assault wing.

GENERAL EMERSON: Yes, sir.

So, the UEF's Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff agreed to the Supreme Commander's request for a preemptive strike: the Hyper-Cobalt Rockets. Sadly, the strike obviously failed since the first blow didn't land. Not surprising given The Masters have some funky stealth tech (some of which may in fact be related to the fact their ships are powered by imploding/exploding at the same time). And that strike had to be capable of reaching targets well BEYOND what could be traversed by normal missiles.
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Re: Hyper-Cobalt Rockets: The UEF's First Strike Weapon

Unread post by taalismn »

This had me thinking this might be a thing in cg99's Robotech/NuBSG crossover fan fiction Reunion in Fire, where a UEG Zentraedi-led scouting fleet upsets the Cylons' attack on the Colonies. Cg99's hinted at major butterflies, especially when Colonial/Cylon extra light jump-drives get traded to the UEG(the Colonial Raptor becomes the new 'jeep of space'). And with the Zentraedi acknowledging that the ability to jump fighters right up next to your target is a real serious game changer, I can totally see the UEG doing something like fitting a Heavy Raider-style jump drive to a Skylord missile and using the result to smack incoming enemy ships at the outer limit of terrestrial sensor range.
In the Reunion in Fire worldliness, it might just be one of the things that seriously gorks the Second Robotech War before it has a chance to really begin.
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Re: Hyper-Cobalt Rockets: The UEF's First Strike Weapon

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

RSCF wrote:ow, what proof do I have? First, the Hyper-prefix in almost every other instance (Hyperspace, Hyperspace Fold, Hyper-Communications, Hyper-Dimensional) indicates Faster-than-Light technology. And, if we're being honest, the "Hyper-Magnetic Particle Beam" Dana references in Danger Zone could well be predicated on some exotic FTL matter used in bringing down the City-ship.

The HMPB in "Danger Zone" wouldn't need the techno-babble to state it they have a name (Tachyon) if it fired FTL particle, which has been around for quite some time (proposed in 1967). Dialogue and visuals are also in disagreement on just what was fired.

As for the Hyper Cobalt Rockets, I don't think the "Hyper" in this case necessarily references FTL technology. It could be nothing more than an acronym, and its only the phonetic nature of the dialogue that obscures it.

RCSF wrote:Second, there is the fact the one time they're referenced, they're being launched AHEAD of the Final Offensive. In fact, they're being launched BEFORE The Masters even reach Earth's outer defense perimeter (which by Final Nightmare, should be beyond Lunar orbit).

The position of the Masters fleet had not been pushed beyond lunar orbit (elements might exist beyond this point I admit, but the main force the UEDF knows about is w/n Lunar Orbit). The Masters would be under no orbital requirement to orbit near the actual location of the Moon, not to mention just because the UEDF is on the Moon doesn't mean they can suddenly create a blockade powerful enough to span the entire Lunar obit or cover all possible orbital inclinations.

That the missiles are launched ahead of an offensive doesn't prove they have FTL capability either.

RSCF wrote:So, the UEF's Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff agreed to the Supreme Commander's request for a preemptive strike: the Hyper-Cobalt Rockets. Sadly, the strike obviously failed since the first blow didn't land. Not surprising given The Masters have some funky stealth tech (some of which may in fact be related to the fact their ships are powered by imploding/exploding at the same time). And that strike had to be capable of reaching targets well BEYOND what could be traversed by normal missiles.

I do not think it establishes the blow didn't land, it could have still landed but was not effective. And that might not have anything to do with the stealth tech, it could just come down to their shields, anti-missile systems (they did try to shoot down Komodo's missiles in EP38), and how well armored the hull is.

As for the range of the missile, that depends on what tech they put into propulsion system(s) used by the launcher (and its various stages), and other factors related to it. But even with conventional technology available in the real world now, they could still theoretically project power to Lunar space (main factors being payload mass and how fast you want to get to the location), early Rockets where converted ICBMs and some of them did send payloads out to the Moon. Given the ASC is supposed to have access to SLMH and working fusion engines (never mind Protoculture and Reflex Technology that are better), they should have the technology to create missiles with performance well in excess of what we could do today.

For example, if we treat the HCR as being equal to the Atlas-E ICBM (they look the similar, why I chose it) in terms of dry mass and propellant mass and just swapped engine types (assume engine mass is the same, NOTE technically the Atlas-E is a 1.5stage vehicle, I'm ignoring the 1/2 stage here) and ignore payload mass:
-conventional chemical engine (LOX/kerosene, 316sec ISP) has a Delta-V of ~9.8kps (factoring in payload and the missing stage it might not even be capable of targeting something in LEO)
-SLMH "chemical" engine (pure metallic hydrogen has 1700sec ISP) has a Delta-V of ~52.9kps (can target something out toward the Moon easily enough, this is more Delta-V capacity than the combined stack for a manned Lunar Mission from the Saturn-V/Apollo program), at that speed you will cover lunar distance in ~2hrs
-FUSION engine (lets call it a disposable low-end efficiency with 10,000sec of ISP) has a Delta-V of ~311kps (lunar distance covered in ~0.3hr or ~20min)
-Fusion engine (lets call it a disposable mid-range efficiency with 50,000sec of ISP) has a Delta-V of ~1556kps (lunar distance covered in easily less than 0.1hr or 6min)

The one advantage to this (back of the envelope) example is that Kerosene has a similar density to SLMH (~0.7) so from a mass perspective it can be traded in 1:1, trading in the LOX (which has a density of (~1.1) for SLMH will result in a decrease in performance with the same payload mass, so the above numbers ARE off technically but it won't change the overall conclusion that with the right propulsion technology put into it, the ASC could have missiles that could project out pretty far from Earth without resorting to equipping them with Fold Drives (the only real FTL propulsion tech the ASC would have access to). Also note that the lunar distance travel times do not take acceleration into consideration, so the travel time is going to be longer.
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Re: Hyper-Cobalt Rockets: The UEF's First Strike Weapon

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

Given that cobalt grenades and cobalt limpet mines show up by name in new generation, i would assume that the "hyper-cobalt rockets" are a related tech, and the "hyper cobalt" bit refers to the explosive used rather than propulsion. Possibly some sort of enhanced non-reflex warhead. Being used as part of an "and the kitchen sink" level of assualt, probably as an opening move distraction to cover the launch of the fleet coming up from the surface, give them time to reach orbit and get organized without being attacked by the motherships blockading earth.
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