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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10682693

They actually have a video of the laser destroying a UAV. It's not much to look at, but I think this is the first unclassified image of a moderately hard target getting destroyed by a laser.

I want my laser cannon right now!

http://www.pauliddon.net/img/generals%20ion%20cannon.jpg

just a question wouldnt the power source need to be nuclear to provide such power?

Originally posted by King Castle
just a question wouldnt the power source need to be nuclear to provide such power?

No. Nuclear power plants don't provide especially high wattage, their main advantage is exceptional endurance.

what's the power source?

Originally posted by King Castle
what's the power source?

the tears of unfathomable sorrow

edit: also babies

Originally posted by King Castle
what's the power source?

Are you asking about the real laser or the one from the game?

Originally posted by King Castle
what's the power source?

I doesn't say. Probably whatever powers the ship they're on. Nuclear would be a good bet since in practice that's the easiest way to get high wattage with a reasonable volume and mass, it's not the only way to get the needed power.

Consider this. The laser needs a constant 50kW to run. A Nimitz Class aircraft carrier has an output of 190MW from its twin nuclear reactors. If it came to a stop it could fire 3800 of these lasers at once. A modern diesel train puts out 3MW, enough to power 60 of these if it produced it as electricity rather than forward motion.

The big break through here is reduced energy requirements.

i only ask b/c i only know of the star wars program satellite and i am sure its power source is nuclear.. but, i could be wrong.

satellites are almost entirely solar powered. the weight requirements of a nuclear reactor would hardly be worth the extra wattage.

you also probably don't want unserviceable nuclear power plants in an eventual retrograde orbit with earth

Originally posted by inimalist
satellites are almost entirely solar powered. the weight requirements of a nuclear reactor would hardly be worth the extra wattage.

you also probably don't want unserviceable nuclear power plants in an eventual retrograde orbit with earth nuclear powered satellites in space.

http://www.animatedsoftware.com/spacedeb/canadapl.htm

Originally posted by King Castle
nuclear powered satellites in space.

http://www.animatedsoftware.com/spacedeb/canadapl.htm

go humans...

the article talks about how rare and ineffective they are, and with modern solar tech I can't imagine we'd be wasting money on this anymore, but colour me shocked

its the stupidest thing we ever done.. iirc reading somewhere if one of the star wars satellite exploded in earth atmosphere it could kill a large majority of earth life via contamination.

I'm not sure about the scale of he damage, I've heard reputable scientists argue the spectrum from Fallout-esque wasteland to harmless lightshow, but ya, it seems like it is something we should have known better than in the 60-70s, but I guess that is from the perspective of someone not living through the cold war.

back in the 80's my school was still doing nuclear attack procedure get underneath the desk BS..

wow... my parents remember that from the 50/60s, but we didn't keep that up...

is this common? were most places in the states still doing this in the 80s?

it was in east L.A. i think about 87 to 89.. not sure if it was common..

man, I tried talking to my parents about the cold war, and they said they didn't even notice it in the 80s

Pretty cool, though not as cool as the military's idea of a 'gay bomb', imo.

Two things they should add to the laser:

1) Color. Not epic if it's invisible; I prefer green.

2) Sound effect. Not epic if it's quiet. Needs either a 'Tha-pffff' or the classic SW 'pew-pew'. Either will work.

i think you parents under went the nuclear arm race the cold war started in the 80's and ended in the 90's..

it was two different events.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War_%281985%E2%80%931991%29
The Cold War period of 1985-1991 began with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader. Gorbachev was a revolutionary leader for the USSR, as he was the first to promote liberalization of the political landscape (Glasnost) and capitalist elements into the economy (Perestroika); prior to this, the USSR had been strictly prohibiting liberal reform and maintained an inefficient centralized economy. The USSR, facing massive economic difficulties, was also greatly interested in reducing the costly arms race with the US. Reagan's policies of aggressive confrontation and arms buildups through much of his term prevented the USSR from cutting back its military spending as much as it might have liked. Regardless, the USSR began to crumble as liberal reforms proved difficult to handle and capitalist changes to the centralized economy were badly transitioned and caused major problems. After a series of revolutions in Soviet Bloc states, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Remember being a school boy in the 80's and having a very, very, very negative view of the USSR, as being oppressors, tyrants, freedom-haters and all around bad-guys.

Though I knew it'd be okay, as we had Rambo and the Wolverines covering our backs.

Originally posted by Robtard
1) Color. Not epic if it's invisible; I prefer green.

Good choice, green is one of the only seriously considered frequencies that might actually make a visible flash in the air.

wolverine was anti establishment.. i guess so was rambo. they kill the ruskies and then come back and beat the politician and officers who send them on a suicide mission..

they both rocked. did you read the marvel presents: wolverine comics?

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Good choice, green is one of the only seriously considered frequencies that might actually make a visible flash in the air.

TBH, I only said green because it's my favorite color; has been since I can remember. Had nothing to do with real life physics.

Originally posted by King Castle
wolverine was anti establishment.. i guess so was rambo. they kill the ruskies and then come back and beat the politician and officers who send them on a suicide mission..

they both rocked. did you read the marvel presents: wolverine comics?

Na, dude. The Wolverines.

http://lucianogalasso.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/reddawn_l.jpg

http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Red_Dawn_DVD/red_dawn_movie_image__4_.jpg

http://www.ratedwrong.com/storage/red_dawn_wolverines.jpg

Originally posted by Robtard
Pretty cool, though not as cool as the military's idea of a 'gay bomb', imo.

Two things they should add to the laser:

1) Color. Not epic if it's invisible; I prefer green.

2) Sound effect. Not epic if it's quiet. Needs either a 'Tha-pffff' or the classic SW 'pew-pew'. Either will work.

I love the idea of laser sounding all pew-pew! I vote for that.

On the more serious note, I'm not that excited about weapons breakthroughs...

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
I love the idea of laser sounding all pew-pew! I vote for that.

On the more serious note, I'm not that excited about weapons breakthroughs...

It's for defensive purposes only. We promise.

Originally posted by lil bitchiness

On the more serious note, I'm not that excited about weapons breakthroughs...

You should be, the better weapons white-people make = the better brown-people can be oppressed. Simple math, really.

@lil bitchiness

you haven t commended on the new music i posted

anyways i think with all these weapons we are bound to have a new weapons arms race and cold wars..

Originally posted by King Castle
i think you parents under went the nuclear arm race the cold war started in the 80's and ended in the 90's..

it was two different events.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War_%281985%E2%80%931991%29
The Cold War period of 1985-1991 began with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader. Gorbachev was a revolutionary leader for the USSR, as he was the first to promote liberalization of the political landscape (Glasnost) and capitalist elements into the economy (Perestroika); prior to this, the USSR had been strictly prohibiting liberal reform and maintained an inefficient centralized economy. The USSR, facing massive economic difficulties, was also greatly interested in reducing the costly arms race with the US. Reagan's policies of aggressive confrontation and arms buildups through much of his term prevented the USSR from cutting back its military spending as much as it might have liked. Regardless, the USSR began to crumble as liberal reforms proved difficult to handle and capitalist changes to the centralized economy were badly transitioned and caused major problems. After a series of revolutions in Soviet Bloc states, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

well sure, there were different periods, but, at least around Canada, "cold war" refers to a period from ~1950 to the 90s where the world could easily be divided into 2 oppositional blocs.

it's less that they remember different things than Canadian culture diverged significantly from the Americans during this period. in the early build up, we were targets because soviet planes were going to fly over the north, making Canadian airspace some of the most critical in the world. by the time icbms were introduced, we really saw the cold war as "your war". there are some interesting anecdotes from the time that I won't bore you with, but the larger point is that by the 80s there was no real reason for canadians to pay a lot of attention to it, as it no longer really affected our domestic politics.

in terms of what robtard was saying, we didn't even get the propaganda. I remember that ussr was a place to visit in a Carmen sandiego computer game, but it was almost like they avoided talking about it. you know, like native rights issues and poverty

video made me moist

ermm

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
It's for defensive purposes only. We promise.

except that, in reality, a laser technology gap could actually tip the military balance...

Originally posted by AthenasTrgrFngr
video made me moist

ermm

HAWT

post pics

we don't all speak French

well then.. if america fell or was attacked by ussr.. canada would be just as effected as america or Mexico due to nuclear attacks and winds and targeting major cities like i dont know NYC..near canada.

it would have behooved canada to still care just a lil..

as true as that might be, it really doesn't change the fact that missle warfare between the us and ussr is much less relevant to the lives of individual canadians as air warfare over Canadian territory involving nuclear armed bombers

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
I love the idea of laser sounding all pew-pew! I vote for that.

On the more serious note, I'm not that excited about weapons breakthroughs...

I could imagine there to be other purposes for such a device, other than as a weapon.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I could imagine there to be other purposes for such a device, other than as a weapon.

Such as?

a torture device to be used on spies

we can use it to drill for stuff like gas and oil...

Originally posted by AthenasTrgrFngr
a torture device to be used on spies

...and we all know that lasers have to start off the target and move slowly onto the target.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I could imagine there to be other purposes for such a device, other than as a weapon.

but, we still need it as a weapon

Originally posted by Robtard
Such as?

I don't know, medicine, rescue......cooking...do I look like a sciemenist?

Originally posted by inimalist
but, we still need it as a weapon

Well, I'm just trying to comfort lil b....since Backfire's penis isn't around.

ba dum bum, tssssss

Post when they perfect the zero-point glove...

http://physicaplus.org.il/zope/home/en/1223032001/ulf_en/image001.jpg/qdisplay_medium.jpg

Originally posted by Bardock42
Well, I'm just trying to comfort lil b....since Backfire's penis isn't around.

Well, I do feel better now...

Where is he anyway? (backfire, not his penis)

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Well, I do feel better now...

Where is he anyway? (backfire, not his penis)

I'm going to assume they are in the same place...

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Well, I do feel better now...

Where is he anyway? (backfire, not his penis)

I do think he's around actually, just not in this thread...at this moment. At least I didn't read that he was going anywhere.

Originally posted by inimalist
I'm going to assume they are in the same place...

Boy, you don't know Backfire at all, do you?

Originally posted by Bardock42
Boy, you don't know Backfire at all, do you?

... but the more I hear, the more I need to know

Originally posted by inimalist
... but the more I hear, the more I need to know

BF and his penis are often covered in feces. Never his own though, never his own.