superprojectile

plural superprojectiles · alternative super-projectile

1. rareengineeringA superior projectile; a supershot.

   t. The comet or asteroid would part the - atmosphere like a superprojectile, leaving a hole through the air as wide as itself.

   1985, Donald Goldsmith, Nemesis: The Death-Star and Other Theories of Mass Extinction, Walker, →ISBN, page 144

   3 more examples

   He knew the cause—tons of khatonite were being turned out where only pounds had been required before—tons of high explosive that were to be transported in those dread superprojectiles to congested centres of population all over the world.

   1932, Bob Olsen, Earl Repp, William Lemkin, Amazing Stories, page 698

   The six submarines, of a type now maneuvering off the coast, are shown surfaced off enemy coast line launching superprojectiles, guided from sub conning towers to targets as far as 500 miles inland.

   1950, Donald Goldsmith, Los Angeles Times, Volume 69, page 3

   Picture an onrushing comet or asteroid that approaches Earth at a relative velocity between 10 and 50 kilometers per second, so that the object arrives from the moon's distance in a matter of a few hours— not much of a warning even if anything were to done about it. The comet or asteroid would part the atmosphere like a superprojectile, leaving a hole through the air as wide as itself. Even though air rushes back into the hole at the speed of sound, it would taken tens of seconds for the hole to disappear.

   1987, Thomas R. McDonough, Space: The Next Twenty-Five Years, Wiley, →ISBN, page 134