Will North Korea test nukes?
Yes
 72%  [ 24 ]
No
 3%  [ 1 ]
They're bluffing
 24%  [ 8 ]
Total Votes : 33

Quote:
If we could get a massively powerful laser on a satelite, I guess it could become possible to detonate the nukes immediately after a country launched one, so that it would just blow up their silo - that would be a pretty powerful deterrant for nuclear missles. It would, however, require knowledge that a country is launching a nuke, as getting a satelite into position takes time....


Thinking about Reagan's Star Wars now are we? Very Happy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative
Ultimate Dev'r wrote:
Thinking about Reagan's Star Wars now are we? Very Happy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative


Sort of, but with a much more realistic context as there are fully functional and deployed laser systems that track and detonate a missle using only the laser (not another intercept missle)
There are only a couple lasers in the world that can do that right now...and they're too big to launch into space Laughing Razz

Wow...we're pretty close to doing this Shock

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2407807.stm
I'm pretty sure the MTHEL is small enough to be launched into space - it is, after all, being driven around on a glorified 18-wheeler Very Happy

http://www.gbad.org/gbad/amd_thel_mthel.html - more (better) pictures of it Wink

EDIT: Here's a decently sized picture of it http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content/MTHEL.jpg
Seems that they did it...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15715066.htm
I was initially going to say that MTHEL looked kinda fake, but if the BBC has an article on it, that boosts its credibility a bit.
Here are two more articles on it:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-10-08-north-korea-test_x.htm?csp=24

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-10-09-nuke-test-reaction_x.htm?csp=24

Still thinking that we need to gather what intel we can on possible locations for their missiles, etc, and blow them all up... :/
lol, just give a couple of million people laser pointers to point at the missiles at the same time. Very Happy
KermMartian wrote:
I was initially going to say that MTHEL looked kinda fake, but if the BBC has an article on it, that boosts its credibility a bit.


I saw a video of it working on the news once, it was pretty impressive. Fast tracking, actually worked, etc..
Craziness, that's pretty cool. No way it could be mounted on a satellite, though, because of the power requirement.
KermMartian wrote:
Craziness, that's pretty cool. No way it could be mounted on a satellite, though, because of the power requirement.


If the laser beam doesn't expand over a distance, the power wouldn't have to be increased that much - assuming it has a clear path with no clouds and such Laughing It would be hard to track and keep a lock on a missle that far away, though....
Kllrnohj wrote:
KermMartian wrote:
Craziness, that's pretty cool. No way it could be mounted on a satellite, though, because of the power requirement.


If the laser beam doesn't expand over a distance, the power wouldn't have to be increased that much - assuming it has a clear path with no clouds and such 0x5 It would be hard to track and keep a lock on a missle that far away, though....
I didn't mean that. I assume it takes several kWatts per shot (probably tens of kW), and it's hard to consistently provide that over tens or hundreds or thousands of shots on a solar-charged satellite.
And that's where anti-matter comes in...
Yeah, because we all know that that's totally realistic, because we've learned how to harvest and isolate it in such amounts. Razz
KermMartian wrote:
I didn't mean that. I assume it takes several kWatts per shot (probably tens of kW), and it's hard to consistently provide that over tens or hundreds or thousands of shots on a solar-charged satellite.


I doubt it takes that much power, otherwise it wouldn't be "mobile" here on earth Very Happy I'm pretty sure they aren't pulling a nuclear reactor behind it to use it Razz It probably uses an insanely pure crystal to maximize power output, which is what really has the most effect on a laser's output power

For example, look at these lasers for sale: http://wickedlasers.com/products.php?content=gspyder The only difference between the 200mW laser and the 300mW laser is the crystal, the actual diode output is the same, even though the lasers output power is not
well, isn't there a way to generate electricity using Earth's magnetic field? That could always power this little bugger. Otherwsie, huge batteries.
Or just huge solar panels, which are what power all the other satellites. It isn't as big of an issue in space as it is here, as large arrays of solar panels don't take much to support up in space Laughing The solar panels could charge up some capacitors for each shot...
Mmm, lasers. But yeah, I see what you mean. Still, the power needed must be substantial.
I feel kinda lucky: It just so happens that, for our school's Mock Congress, I signed up be the person talking about nuclear proliferation. Great timing on North Korea's part, I think Laughing.
Good for who? Your grade or the rest of the world? Rolling Eyes
  
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