That's not all. The article claims that the Navy is trying to build a laser that will do 100 times as good. That's right; cut through 2,000 FEET OF STEEL PER SECOND. Now I know you're thinking, "death rays are as good as real with that kind of technology!" Just imagine if you sent that thing into space, along with one of those programmable mirrors that they put in laser TVs to direct the laser. There's your death ray.
Here's the only problem with that:
The 20 ft steel/sec laser was the size of a football field, and can only, as of now, fit on a Navy aircraft carrier. No other vehicle could hold the thing! Imagine how much power it takes too. So putting one of these in space is not probable, which means satellite death rays are a ways off. However, the article reassures us that,
"as improvements in technology enable the laser to shrink, it'll also become more efficient, and by 2015 the goal is to get it down to 50 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet. And by 2020? It might be smaller still, able to fit into helicopters and drones, and it's not too much of a stretch to imagine something small enough to be handheld by 2030."That sounds like a world I would want to live in! The one where terrorists with helicopters could blast through buildings and houses from a distance in a few seconds. Airborne Gatling gun times a billion!
I am a bit skeptical about the availability of handheld lasers that are this powerful even by 2030. Think of the battery that would need to be on them! The one I show in They're Out There only gets 30 shots, is a little bulky, and is waaaaaaayyyy less powerful.
Still... the fact that these projects are being developed is a little scary. This stuff might actually end up working, and that might not be a good thing.
I also wonder about the stability of the lasers once they get them down to a manageable size. Maybe I should say I worry about that. It's easy to imagine misalignments and the like happening and things being targeted that aren't supposed to be targeted. I hope this stays science-fictionish. Geesh.
ReplyDeleteLasers are very picky about alignment. If any piece of optics is translated a tiny bit or rotated a small amount, the laser will not produce much intensity. Now misalignment of the whole laser cavity or output beam may happen, but I don't think that happens often with the precise engineering and advanced targeting systems out there. And the operator can always shut the beam off if they notice the laser shooting in the wrong direction. You can look at my post about Weaponizing Lasers to see how accurate the laser can be. I would say laser misalignment isn't any more probable than gun misfires, parachute malfunctions, etc. That's my opinion.
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