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Big Freakin' Laser Beams In Space
schnippy writes "Esquire is running an interesting article on the work on adaptive optics and directed energy being done at the U.S. Air Force's Starfire Optical Observatory. This facility was the subject of a New York Times article earlier this year which suspected the facility was conducting anti-satellite weapons research under the cover of astronomy."
Any word on how we're going to get sharks up there?
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Maybe they are just planning on giving astronauts laser eye surgery from the ground.
Hey, guys. Big gulps, huh? Cool. All right! Well, see ya later.
Finally, we have a weapon capable of defeating the Brotherhood of Nod.
They are going to warm up a bit of Mars.
Hopefully, they won't "test" it out on targets closer to home first.
liqbase
They are soo sharking Congress on that one.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Anyone have a taste for popcorn?
Finally my dream of making a house full of popcorn while listening to Tears for Fears will be realized!
We see through a glass darkly--somewhat like trying to spy on beauty through textured-glass shower doors.
Ok, forget space, I want a laser-telescope-camera at home right now if it can see through next-doors shower door.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
When we see smaller sharks, of course.
Water goes in cargo container, cargo container goes in rocket, shark goes in water. Our shark.
We're gonna need a bigger rocket.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
They're using the telescope to spy on that orange chick from the Teen Titans.
So, now they are trying to fry the kentucky chicken with a laser?
The British Government have confirmed the existence of their sister program, The Torchwood Institue, having recently demonstrated its latest ground to space design over the holidays.
[/remove tongue from cheek]
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
Isn't that a Men's clothing magazine? Since when do we get technology information from Esquire? That's like going to Dr. Dobbs looking for a pie recipe or Car and Driver for gardening tips.
--- Just another Code-Monkey
I worked for a company that delivered a 3.5M BEAM DIRECTOR to AFWL in the 90's. Notice the caps. So why is this a surprise to anyone ? The program was DESIGNED to **CLASSIFIED **** in the **CLASSIFIED*** stage of flight. Of course it has other uses. Beam source was a GPFEL.
However, trust me on this, it's too damn big to attach to a shark's head. Even a whale shark. A space based shark, maybe, but you'll have a tough time getting something the size of a small skyscraper into orbit. Not to mention the nuke plant to power it.
If the USAF uses Starfire, they're going to go out of mana pretty quickly. I hope they have a lot of MP/5 and know when to use that Innervate.
Only on Slashdot does a story about space and lasers lead to the tagging system creating one and only one tag: sharks.