Crazy yet romantic sci-fi.
In 1987, the special TV drama “Dinosaur Express” shot by Japan’s Tsuburaya Company was broadcast for the first time in China. This film did not have high ratings in Japan, but it was the first special feature film to be introduced into my country. It won quite a lot of popularity in an environment where domestic sci-fi works were still lacking at that time.
Many post-80s and even some post-90s still remember the super-weapon “Human Cannon” in the film. After the special device “Human Cannon” of “Xiaguang No. 1” is launched, the male protagonist can transform into a superman “Kesai” and fight various aliens and mutant monsters happily.
“Human” is actually “human” in Japanese, and “human cannon” should be translated into “human cannon”. However, the sense of mystery and secondary sense brought by literal translation is far greater than that of free translation. Since then, “human cannon” has also become a conventional name, specifically referring to those cannons that can fire humans as cannonballs.
The idea of seeing cannons as a means of transportation seems crazy, but it is actually one of the thousands of crazy ideas that human beings have actually tried, and it is also the enduring theme of countless science fiction works.
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The first person to put the concept of “human cannon” into practical application was the circus acrobat.
On April 2, 1877, at the Royal Aquarium in London, England, a 17-year-old girl, known by the stage name “Zazel”, performed the first recorded “Human Cannon” performance. A British newspaper at the time roughly recorded the process of the performance:
“The young lady climbed very peacefully into a large mortar… We were startled to see a live shell fly through the air and fall into the safety net unharmed. Smoke from the muzzle of the cannon Before leaving, she had walked along the safety net, bowed and smiled on the stage.”
“Zazel”, whose real name is Rosa Matilda Richter, started acting at the age of 5
Although many people present must have smelled the smell of gunpowder, “Zazel” was not ejected by a gunpowder explosion. In the performance, the actual amount of gunpowder is quite small, and the smoke produced is only a small trick used to enhance the perception and deceive the audience.
Color poster of the Royal Aquarium
The cannon that fires the “Zazer” has a built-in ejection platform controlled by a rubber spring. The cannon was designed by Canadian inventor William Leonard Hunt.
Hunt), based on the great success of the catapult trapeze performance at that time, in 1871, he applied for a patent for this catapult in the United States, and only later thought of putting the catapult into a real cannon.
catapult sketch
Even if the difficult performance of “don’t imitate” is indispensable in the circus, the danger of “shooting the trapeze” is among the best.
Two years after her first performance, “Zazel” suffered a performance accident. The safety net that was supposed to catch her rotted due to wear and tear, causing her to fall to the ground. Although there was no serious injury, she was unable to participate in the second performance. day’s show. After the accident, voices accusing this performance of being too cruel and inhumane began to appear, and there are always people who want to ban various circus performances including “Cannon Shooting Trapeze”.
Although the performance of “Cannon Shooting Trapeze” has been improved a lot over the past 100 years. Each circus regards the operating mechanism and internal structure of the cannon as a trade secret. The caliber and barrel length of the cannon used are different, but it is confirmed that they all use compressed air as the power to shoot “human shells”.
The compressed air will push the platform inside the barrel to the muzzle of the cannon, and the “human shell” on the platform will fly into the air under the influence of inertia.
A performance in 2005, source Wikipedia
It’s not difficult to launch a person into the air, what is difficult is how to land safely. Safety nets, water surfaces, or airbags are all optional impact points. Actors engaged in “human cannonballs” are far more cautious than we imagined. They will repeatedly calculate the ballistics of the cannon before launching, and they will also use dummies that are slightly heavier than themselves to conduct ballistic tests. Take your own life.
But any improvement and extreme caution cannot avoid performance accidents. So far, more than 30 actors have unfortunately been killed in such performances, and the number of “human shells” still active is no more than double digits. The most recent tragedy occurred in 2011, when a 23-year-old British stuntman fell from a height of more than 30 feet (about 9.14 meters) in the air. Because the safety net failed, his head landed before his body.
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Obviously, whether the concept of “human cannon” can be realized depends on how to make the human beings who are fired can withstand the tossing like a cannonball.
Circus “human shell” performances tend to die out, but their approach is worthwhile. In 2006, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) applied for a patent for a “human cannon” based on circus performances. The set includes a ramp at an 80-degree angle to the ground, and ejection seats on the track. When the cannon is fired, the compressed air is quickly released, ejecting the seat along the rails, sending the special forces, police or firefighters on the seat to the roof.
Patent presentation
DARPA claims they have a computer that can automatically design the correct ascent speed and angle to ensure the least amount of shock when it hits the ground. In theory, a 4-meter-high launcher can eject a person to the top of a 5-story building in less than 2 seconds.
Coincidentally, the real-time strategy game “Red Alert 3” launched two years later, designed a “bullfrog chariot” for the Soviet camp. In addition to having an anti-aircraft gun, the bullfrog is also equipped with an “army deployment system”.
Bullfrog Chariot
In terms of settings, this system also uses compressed air. In order to ensure airtightness, after soldiers get into the vehicle, the only way to leave is to be fired by a cannon. The artillery does not need to calculate the precise ballistics, but just shoots adults to “thousands of meters in the air”, and the soldiers who are fired will use simple parachutes to deploy to the front line, or some unexpected places.
Whether it’s a circus, DARPA or a “bullfrog chariot”, the “human cannon” equipped is designed for people who have undergone certain training. During the launch process, the “human shell” needs to withstand the pressure several times that of gravity in a short period of time. Ordinary people who lack muscle strength may lose consciousness under the heavy pressure, cannot control their landing posture, and have no chance to open their parachute. .
These ideas only bring humans within sight. If the destination of the “human shell” is set at a farther place, such as the moon, it must use a power source far stronger than compressed air.
As early as 1865, “From the Earth to the Moon” by Jules Verne, the “father of science fiction”, fabricated a “human cannon” that could enable humans to travel to the moon. In the novel, a cannon club in the United States casts a half-mile (about 800 meters) high “Columbia Cannon”, which is intended to use gunpowder power to send the hollow shells that three adventurers ride to the moon.
an illustration of a version of a novel
From Earth to Moon is quite insightful. The amount of gunpowder enough to send a cannonball out of the Earth would also crush humans to mincemeat. Therefore, the “hollow shell” is an indispensable part of manned spaceflight: hiding in an indestructible metal skin, human flesh and blood can withstand the acceleration due to a shell.
But the prophecy of the “Colombia Cannon” was not fully realized. In the two world wars, the largest caliber artillery ever used by mankind, the barrel length did not exceed 40 meters. After the war, the idea of ”hollow shells” evolved into manned spaceships and spaceship-carrying rockets. The rockets use jet propulsion engines, which can provide more stable and lasting acceleration, and will become the manned interstellar spaceflight for a long time. only means.
The Saturn 5 rocket that escorted Apollo 11 to the moon
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“Human Cannon” lacks certain universality and practicability, which is of course a conclusion drawn from scientific practice. But “Human Cannon” does have a certain charm, which makes it difficult for sci-fi authors to give up such “wishful thinking”, and does not hesitate to cite all future possibilities to prove the value of “Human Cannon”.
The idea of ditching thick, long metal gun barrels and using emerging materials and electromagnetic technology to create large railguns or mass drives is a tempting idea. At present, the technology tree of China and the United States is the first to point out the electromagnetic catapult, which can already catapult aircraft from aircraft carriers.
Not everyone can fly a plane, and even an ace pilot is at risk of a crash. Therefore, sci-fi authors tend to design some “skins” that are stronger than planes and relatively easy to handle, such as mechanical exoskeletons, large mechas, and even energy shields, the pressure and landing impact when “human shells” are ejected from the chamber force as low as possible.
It’s not impossible to replace the carrier aircraft with Gundam.
For example, Liu Cixin’s short science fiction novel “Earth Cannon” written in tribute to Verne, also designed an electromagnetic power “cannon” that can send humans into space, but it has a taste of another way.
The essence of this cannon is a tunnel that runs through the center of the earth. The electric current in the earth’s core is collected through a “new solid-state material” to create a magnetic field in the barrel of the cannon. Humans need to wear airtight suits with superconducting coils, and the current in the coils creates a magnetic field in the opposite direction, which in turn generates thrust. Because the barrel length of the “Earth Cannon” is equal to the diameter of the Earth, the “human shell” launched from it can enter space with the help of a “gentle acceleration”, which can be said to solve the problem from the source.
novel excerpts
From Verne to Liu Cixin, the different interpretations of the “human cannon” theme in countless science fiction works reflect the charm of “science fiction” itself to some extent. Some sci-fi fantasies are more on the side of science, similar to predictions about the future, which are likely to become reality with the help of science; other fantasies that are more biased, may never be realized, but have a unique romantic color, for the latecomers. Provides a space for imagination.
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