> Even present-day chemical rockets could be pretty destructive. Get something massive that won't burn up (like a rod of tungsten) up to interplanetary velocities and you can approach the yield of a small tactical nuke from just kinetic energy. This has been studied at least on paper by militaries. I think the phrase "rods from God" was used by DARPA at one point for the rod of tungsten idea.
Also known as "Project Thor", it was devised by Jerry Pournelle before he became a science fiction author. More on various iterations of the concept can be found in Wikipedia:
Also known as "Project Thor", it was devised by Jerry Pournelle before he became a science fiction author. More on various iterations of the concept can be found in Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment