The U.S. Navy’s new railgun weapon project could soon be used to mine ores from the surface of the Moon. These raw materials could then be used in the construction of space colonies.

The Navy recently released a proposal detailing the department’s extensive plans in testing new technology. One of the tests listed in the proposal was the energy kinetic weapon, which is also referred to as a railgun.

Basically, the futuristic weapon works by launching a projectile with the use of electricity instead of combustion or chemical propellants. Tests recently conducted on the railgun revealed that the weapon is capable of firing projectiles with speeds of over Mach 6, which is six times the speed of sound.

According to the details presented by the Navy, the railgun can fire in less than one second but the charging time for the weapon’s system can take up to two minutes.

Although the weapon is certainly being developed for military applications, its concept coincides with a theory presented by a renowned physicist and space activist, Space.com reported.

In 1974, Gerard O’Neill, a former professor at Princeton University, came up with the idea of using an electromagnetic railgun to launch raw materials from the surface of the Earth. In O’Neill’s theory, he referred to his theoretic railgun as a mass driver.

According to the physicist, the mass driver can be used to launch ores mined from the surface of the Moon into space. These raw materials can then be collected and used to either build structures for space colonies or repair orbiting satellites.

O’Neill and his colleagues were able to successfully come up with prototypes for the mass driver. Unfortunately, despite the progress that they’ve made, there are still no real-world industrial applications for the mass driver concept.

This could all change through the Navy’s railgun project. However, before this happens, further tests are yet to be conducted on the weapon. According to the Navy, the railgun will be mounted on a sea vessel and will fire both explosive and non-explosive projectiles. The Navy will use air and sea-based targets for the tests.

Moon
An ancient Earth relic was found on the Moon. Pictured: This 19 November 1969 file photo released by NASA shows one of the astronauts of the Apollo 12 space mission conducting experiment on the moon's surface. An Apollo / Saturn V space vehicle launched the Apollo 12 astronauts Charles 'Pete' Conrad, Jr., commander, Richard F. Gordon, command module pilot, and Alan L. Bean, lunar module pilot from the Kennedy Space Center, on November 14, 1969, on the Apollo 12 United States' second manned lunar landing mission. Getty Images/AFP/-
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