Star Wars! Death Rays! THE END OF THE WORLD!

     You have got to see this!  I found an article from the St. Petersburg Times, and several related ones from other sources, that describes an attack on U.S. satellites from Russia!  Here is the excerpt:

     The article is from the November 22, 1976 issue of the St. Petersburg Times newspaper.  According to the article, in 1975, Russia took out two U.S. satellites with a high-powered laser beam.  Scary, huh?  Especially the part about "hunter-killer satellites" and "death rays!"  Well, those predictions that the magazine made were pretty wild.  To my knowledge, we don't have "death rays" even today.  The only thing that comes close is the Boeing laser from Weaponizing Lasers. 

     This is a perfect representation of what journalists will say to get their story heard (and an interesting look into past journalism too).  The blinding of the satellite really boiled down to some burning (similar to the video in Weaponizing Lasers) on the satellites sensors or transmitters.  The image that comes to mind when reading the article, however, is that the laser completely annihilated the satellite!  I mean, the laser beam was "10,000 times as strong as a natural blaze!"  Wouldn't that be like an explosion, if a natural blaze is taken to be a small flame?  An excerpt from the Nov. 22, 1976 issue from the Milwaukee Journal said that the beam could "vaporize metal and produce destructive shockwaves."

     Wouldn't the reader get a sense of fear from this article, especially back in 1976, when the average man's understanding of lasers was not at all like what it is today.  People could not do a quick Google search back then to see how far lasers have come.  All they could do is imagine an evil Russian scientist sending a laser into space and killing every American that went outside!

I just found this interesting science communication about lasers from the seventies.  Pretty far-out, huh?

They're Actually Out There!

     I have to admit it.  I was wrong.  I received a comment on an earlier post, Weaponizing Lasers, concerning high powered lasers in the hands of average people.  I expressed my skepticism of that happening anytime soon due to my belief that hand held laser weapons would require a huge power supply.  Well I guess I should stop expressing my doubt about laser terrorism because it seems like those laser guns from Star Wars actually exist!  Check out this website that shows a laser gun prototype and a video of its operation.  I have included the video below.

     The "plasma ball" seen in the video is, I believe, an example of filamentation.  Filamentation occurs when the intensity of the laser is so large that the laser actually causes the air it travels through to mimic a lens.  This occurs because the laser heats up the air in a special way.  In the end, the laser self-focuses, and becomes even more intense!  Now, the laser's self-focusing also has to fight diffraction (the photons' desire to be spread apart from each other), but if the laser is strong enough, the light will cause the air to ionize, like the gas in a fluorescent lamp.  Voila!  "Plasma ball!"

     Also notice in the video that the gun was supposedly purchased.  That means there is someone out there who wants to use it for one of three purposes:

1) To use it for fun,
2) To use it for evil purposes,
3) Or to use it to accessorize a Star Wars costume.

Let's hope it's not #2.  If the laser can filament, it can blind, burn, sear, scar, sting, zap, and tingle.  Those laser issues at airports.... Well those might be just the beginning....

Weaponizing Lasers to Reduce Casualties

Contradicting?  It may seem so...

     Ever since the proposal of "Star Wars" during the Cold War, there has been a lot of interest in utilizing lasers as weapons.  Now, Boeing has released footage of their airborne tactical laser.  The test shows the laser scorching the hood of a truck from an airplane, and Boeing states that the truck was "disabled" off-camera.

     With this kind of power, these lasers could take out human targets from the sky and change the dynamics of war.  Just knowing that there is a sniper laser in the sky would have serious psychological effects on targets.  The advancement of such devastating weapons can get a little scary at times.  Often, one has to ask the question, "How does this help?"  Aren't these advancements perpetuating and promoting violence?