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Originally posted by Yakk
Denim, by "fairly cheap" you mean "millions of dollars per tonne, just to get the damn thing into orbit". =p~
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If you use NASA's methods and personnel, yes. But there are others working on the problem, and their results are much cheaper.
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But yes, Thor is a classic in military science fiction. In one particular one (Footfall), the Thor's where programmed with a simple targetting AI that aimed themselves at a random "tank-shape" near their target location. Drop 20 of them at a bunch of tanks, and there goes the cavalry.
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Yes, that's one "place" it was used, sure. But Niven and Pournelle were using someone else's idea there. Note what they did with "Orion", for another example of such an idea.