We're rather impressed with the US Air Force and their Starfire project. It's not every day you get to build a death ray on a desert hill in New Mexico and write it off as a scientific endeavor. The premise is that since the atmosphere diffracts light, messing up the view of ground-based optical telescopes, the Starfire shoots a laser 56 miles into the mesosphere and measures the distortion to adjust the telescope optics. Images from the Starfire are 40 times more accurate than regular, but the laser technology is coincidentally multi-purpose: "We don't hide the fact that it could help build an anti-satellite weapon," says the installation's chief, "if you choose to do it." Our thoughts exactly.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Justin @ Jun 28th 2006 6:07PM
I, for one, welcome our new robot death ray overlords.
Billd @ Jun 28th 2006 6:12PM
This station is now the ultimate power in the universe?
Bob Dole @ Jun 28th 2006 6:14PM
*cue humping mini me*
Nukes and Candy @ Jun 28th 2006 6:24PM
Its like that Satellite that Peter Griffin always fantasized about, the one that has a laser beam that can scratch your glutes form outer space!!! only this one is the other way around.... well, its a start!!!
Alexander W.
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Storm9 @ Jun 28th 2006 6:44PM
All it does is blind the sattilites not blow them up.
Henry @ Jun 28th 2006 6:45PM
I think the Air Force already has a laser that can shoot down stuff like satellites: http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/miracl.htm
Murc @ Jun 28th 2006 8:12PM
2-words - Friggin' sweet.
Michael Magness @ Jun 28th 2006 8:21PM
NOW! Witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational... um... satellite blindey thingy....
JSFORBES @ Jun 28th 2006 8:25PM
Satellites Shmatellites, I want something to cook the birds that shit on my car.
furtim @ Jun 28th 2006 8:30PM
The power to measure atmospheric distortions is insignificant compared to the power of The Force.
marshak @ Jun 28th 2006 8:50PM
is there a handheld version on thinkgeek yet?
Al Samuelson @ Jun 28th 2006 9:32PM
I just read about this in the book "The Jasons".
cookiemonster @ Jun 28th 2006 10:10PM
@ henry
anything that has a starfleet insignia loses credibility
other than that, im with justin.
Henry @ Jun 28th 2006 10:26PM
The Federation of American Scientists is pretty credible, IMO.
They tested MIRACL in 1997 on an old satellite, not to blow it up, but just to see how well they could target it.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/1997/t10231997_t1023asd.html
I wonder how effective (if at all) this technology would be against missiles.
Shadyman @ Jun 28th 2006 11:37PM
Mini-me! Quit humping the fricken "laser". You and the "laser" should get a fricken room!
cDub @ Jun 29th 2006 2:34AM
http://wickedlasers.com/products.php?content=spyder
isnt exactly going to take down satellites but is damn cool
CeeJay @ Jun 29th 2006 8:31AM
How long untill portable versions come out that could be attached to something smallish , like say .. a sharks head ?
chris mansley @ Jun 29th 2006 10:31AM
You know what really creeps me out is that Tom Swift did this in the book, Moonstalker, released in 1992.
Chris @ Jun 29th 2006 11:11AM
This is not new. I saw a similar technology to this Starfire at the Lawrence Livermore National lab in California around 1992. They had to get air space clearance and divert any planes from the area around the lab.
They touted it back then as a method to modify their adaptive optics to improve earth based telescopes...
How is this different?
juepucta @ Jun 29th 2006 3:47PM
You just wait until James Bond has to prevent some evil gazillionaire from effin up something with the laser.
-G.
Manuel @ Oct 23rd 2006 5:38PM
Could it be used to interfere with a fully operational death star ? i heard they were heading to tattoine !!!
Plautus Satire @ Nov 10th 2006 5:11PM
Starfire destroyed the Columbia space shuttle with their laser weapons. http://geocities.com/plautus_satire/columbia/X/