Undoing War On Earth -- Pennies Destroy Billions

THIS ARTICLE IS RATHER A BIT OF A FARCE, BUT BEN IS GETTING OLD, AND HE EITHER IS OUT OF TOUCH OR HIDING STUFF, OR BOTH...HE SEEMS IGNORANT OF ENMOD AND THE TRUE STATE OF ORBITAL PLATFORMS, AS WELL AS BLACK TECH/NASA, AND ON AND ON, PLUS HE NO DOUBT WANTS TO KEEP HIS NEWSPAPER JOB DOWN THERE IN FLORIDA, AND CONTINUE TO SELL NOVELS, SOOOOOO.....BUT YOU WILL GET A GOOD GIST FROM THIS, AND IT IS A GOOD FIRST STEP TO SEARCHING ABOUT DESTRUCTION OF SATELLITES FROM THE GROUND WITH HOMEMADE LASERS....THINK MOUNTAINTOPS....LASERS ARE EASY, CHEAP, AND WILL WORK FOR THIS, ITS ACTUALLY BEING DONE NOW AS WE SPEAK, ALL OVER THE PLANET...BELIEVE YOU ME.....KILL THE NWO NOW. OR DIE YOUR OWN DAMNED SELVES.


The Light From Above
Ben Bova

In the year 1139 the Roman Catholic Church tried to ban the crossbow unsuccessfully. Today, Washington politicians and activists want to ban the use of lasers as anti-satellite weapons.
The Lateran Council of 1139 outlawed the crossbow because that weapon allowed a peasant foot soldier to kill an armored knight. Obviously not part of God's plan, the churchmen felt. The ban did not work; crossbows continued to knock noblemen off their steeds with great regularity.
Today we are on the verge of a new era of weapons development. Like it or not, lasers are moving onto the battlefield  and today's battlefield extends into orbital space. The Army wants to test a laser's ability to disable an orbiting satellite, using a laser called MIRACL. There is no religious ignificance in the name, which is an acronym for Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser.
MIRACL is located at the White Sands Proving Ground, in New Mexico. The Army's plan is to fire it at an Air Force satellite, MSTI-3 (Miniature Sensor Technology Integration) which was orbited years ago to test sensors for tracking missile launches.
Although the Pentagon says MSTI-3's useful life is over, some scientists insist that the satellite can still perform valuable research measurements in space. Opponents of the whole idea say that the proposed test would trigger a new arms race aimed at developing anti-satellite weapons. They argue that ASAT weapons could threaten American satellites, both military and civilian. We have much more to lose from an ASAT race than we have to gain, they claim.
Yet the inexorable logic of weapons development is definitely pointing toward lasers.
In 1944 weaponry entered the missile age when Nazi Germany began firing V-2 rockets at London. Over half a century's development, missiles have become a prime weapon for the world's armed forces. Long-range ballistic missiles carrying hydrogen bombs have been called the "ultimate weapon."
Shorter-ranged ballistic missiles, such as the Scuds used by Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, threaten American troops deployments in the Middle East and Korea. One Scud missile that hit a U.S. barracks in Saudi Arabia killed more Americans than the entire Iraqi army. Lasers are more-or-less in the "V-2" stage of development as weapons. Because they fire beams of light intense enough to destroy missiles or satellites, they offer the possibility of defense against the "ultimate weapon."
The Air Force is developing an airborne laser system, carried by a Boeing 747, that will be able to find and destroy Scud missiles within seconds of their launch, from hundreds of miles away.
Nothing in the universe moves faster than light. Travelling at 186,000 miles per second, a laser beam could reach out across thousands of miles in less time than a missile can travel a few feet. Powerful laser beams could puncture the thin skin of a missile and explode it. Rockets are actually rather fragile; remember how the space shuttle Challenger exploded when one of its booster rockets failed.
As the world's military forces come to rely more and more on satellites for communications and observation, it is inevitable that ways to destroy those satellites will be sought. And ways to defend them, as well. Attempting to rule out ASAT weaponry will probably be no more effective than the Church's attempt to ban crossbows.
Ultimately, lasers might be placed in satellites that could find and destroy ballistic missiles armed with nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. Dozens of nations are developing such missiles, many of them decidedly unfriendly to America.
Satellites capable of destroying ballistic missiles over intercontinental ranges might be an enormous stride toward world peace. Such satellites orbit the entire world. With the proper political control, they could be used to protect every nation against attack by any nation or terrorist group.
Some quail at the thought of armed satellites orbit-ing overhead, fearing that their weapons might be used against targets on the ground. Fears of "death rays" from space that can incinerate cities are baseless. Lasers are just not that powerful.
While nuclear bombs are weapons of mass destruction, lasers are weapons of pinpoint destruction. A 100-megawatt laser has about as much explosive force as a hand grenade. No good for blasting cities, but perfect for knocking down missiles.
It may be regrettable that weaponry is moving into space, but it seems inevitable. It might also be highly desirable, if we can find political leadership that is as clever and resourceful as our scientists and engineers.
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Ben Bova's latest novel is Moonrise.