fred@mnetor.UUCP (06/21/85)
This just came over the space shuttle newsgroup, referencing the recent STARWARS experiment. > A laser beam was shot at the space shuttle today in a test > to see how laser light diffuses as it travels through the > atmosphere. Unfortunately, numbers fed by ground control > into the shuttle autopilot were in feet instead of nautical > miles with the result that the mirror on the shuttle that > should have reflected the beam back to Earth was on the > wrong side at the appointed time. NASA said there will > be another chance on Saturday. I'd like to point out that if this were a real nuclear attack incident there would not be another chance on Saturday. Yes, I know this is only the first exploratory experiment and that is why we do testing, but these guys are supposed to be the best at what they do in the world. YUEEESSHH! Cheers, Fred Williams P.S. While everybody is thinking of these weapons as defensive, have you people given any thought as to what would happen to a city being bombarded by a microwave laser? Do you think a particle beam could penetrate Earth's atmosphere and have an effect on people at the surface? How would the SDI defend against Soviet missles launched from space. You have maybe 5 minutes total time of flight, maybe less.