As things on the domestic side here in the U.S. continue to seem more volatile, we can all be comforted by the fact that China has reportedly figured out how to create a freakin' "outer space particle beam."
Good to know. America's chief rival nation and fellow superpower has a space laser.
Here's more from ZeroHedge:
Particle beams — streams of high-speed atoms or subatomic particles — have long been the holy grail of space warfare. The concept sounds simple: zap an enemy satellite with a beam so intense it melts or fries the target. Reality, however, has been less cooperative — mainly because of power, according to the South China Morning Post.
Building such a weapon means delivering megawatts of energy with microsecond precision, a combo engineers usually describe as 'pick one.' Systems that are powerful are clumsy; systems that are precise can't handle the juice.
But leave it to the Chinamen — they figured it out. Allegedly.
But Chinese scientists now claim they've solved this decades-old physics headache. In a study published in Advanced Small Satellite Technology, a team led by Su Zhenhua of DFH Satellite Co. unveiled a prototype power system that reportedly hits both marks — high power and pinpoint control.
Their device pushed out 2.6 megawatts of pulsed power while keeping synchronization accuracy to 0.63 microseconds. 'Existing pulsed power supplies typically have an output power of less than 1 megawatt and synchronisation control accuracy worse than 1 millisecond,' Su's team wrote.
Translation for the non-nerds out there: It's powerful AND accurate. And it's a freakin' space laser.
The device must still undergo rigorous testing, however, to determine how much of a game-changer it will really be.
Whether the system can survive space's brutal environment — radiation, vacuum, temperature swings — is still unclear. At least for now, China's latest power breakthrough may be less 'Death Star ready' and more 'promising PowerPoint slide.'
That's reassuring.
Truth be told though, with the level of disunity in the U.S. these days, it might not take much more than a PowerPoint slide to overthrow us.
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