Sensible Erection | I am the God of HELfire and I bring you ... Lazors

Monday, 11 April 2011

I am the God of HELfire and I bring you ... Lazors

quote [ A high-energy laser (HEL) fired from a US warship off the California coast has ignited a nearby boat. ]

The US Navy has fired a laser gun from one of its ships for the first time. Hurray for lasers ... is there anything they can't do (lasers that is, not the US Navy)?

Researchers mounted the Maritime Laser Demonstrator, a solid-state laser, aboard the USS Paul Foster, a decommissioned destroyer. Off the central California coast near San Nicholas Island on Wednesday, the laser fired a 15-kilowatt beam at an inflatable motorboat a mile away as both ships moved through the sea.

Same video clip but more info on Wired:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-04/11/navy-laser-sets-ship-on-fire

[sci&tech] [by moriati@6:41pmGMT] [+10 Interesting]

Comments

Tsunemori said @ 6:45pm GMT on 11th Apr

MEEJA HOR said @ 6:47pm GMT on 11th Apr
Where's that +1 laser mod gone when you need it?

maryyugo said @ 6:53pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:1 Informative]
A cool way to locate and arrest assholes who target aircraft with lasers.

crom said @ 7:06pm GMT on 11th Apr
Do they have a way to locate and arrest assholes who fly helicopters over residential neighborhoods? That would be useful.

spite48 said @ 7:23pm GMT on 11th Apr
No, but apparently you are not allowed to punish them with lazors.

maryyugo said @ 8:58pm GMT on 11th Apr
Well... I think 90+% are police. If not, try to get noise abatement legislation in place and then use binoculars and report the tail number to a local FAA office and file a complaint. In SW US, they're pretty good about following up. I'm talking US only. I have no idea about how that works elsewhere.

theolypse said @ 1:02am GMT on 12th Apr
In case you were wondering, the ease with which you say things like "get _____ legislation in place" is one of the most obvious signs of your high income.

cb361 said @ 7:03pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:4]
Is there anything the the US Navy can't do?

Survive a theoretical naval battle with a force of small but numerous vessels using low-tech or suicidal techniques?

crom said @ 9:49pm GMT on 11th Apr
To be fair, theoretical battles aren't useful unless you sometimes lose.

mrklipp said @ 9:57pm GMT on 11th Apr
To be fair, they didn't technically lose, they reset the simulation and didn't let them use the tactic the second time.

I really hope that works in real life.

cb361 said @ 10:02pm GMT on 11th Apr
That seems to be the lingering controversy - the belief that the US Navy simply changed the rules to declare itself the winner and its tactics successful. Myth Of US Invincibility Floats In The Persian Gulf

sacrelicious said @ 10:34pm GMT on 11th Apr
hey, if creatively interpreting the results or resetting the test to alter the outcome works to dissuade anyone from attacking the navy in such a way, then that in itself is an effective military tactic.

the battle is won before it is ever fought, as that one chinese dude said.

smoki79 said @ 10:30pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:1 Informative]
Can't see why it wouldn't work in real life. More insight from War Nerd:
http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=6779&IBLOCK_ID=35

mrklipp said @ 11:31pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:1 Insightful]
I kinda meant the reset part.

I wasn't really hoping that the US navy could be sunk by a small fleet of suicide bombers, but in this day and age, maybe I should clarify that so I don't end up on a list.

KropperPrime said @ 12:37am GMT on 12th Apr
I remember this one.

f00m@nB@r said @ 7:14pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:2]

EPT said @ 10:35pm GMT on 11th Apr
hooray for edge detection!

Taleweaver said @ 7:41pm GMT on 11th Apr
I am just wondering... if this sort of technology ever finds wide use against pirate vessels like the ones currently threatening sea travel around Somalia, wouldn't large mirrors suddenly become a valued commodity aboard such pirate vessels?

ENZ said @ 8:14pm GMT on 11th Apr
I'm pretty sure weaponized lasers would cost a lot more to procure and maintain than any cargo they'd be able to steal.

mrklipp said @ 8:30pm GMT on 11th Apr
Mirrors are of no real use against high powered lasers.

The reflectivity of the surface is critical, because whatever you don't reflect is absorbed and the damage quickly starts to further reduce the reflectivity of the surface.

Mirrors don't reflect enough of the energy to prevent damage, basically the reflective layer is vaporized too quickly to be of any use.

cb361 said @ 8:49pm GMT on 11th Apr
So much for my planned defence system against lightsabres.

tickaz said @ 12:16am GMT on 12th Apr
I never really got lightsabres. I mean, why do they stop at a certain point? Shouldn't they just go on infinitely?

sacrelicious said @ 12:38am GMT on 12th Apr
the midi-chlorians jump in and stop it at a certain length.

yoda explained all this in Revenge Of The Sith right after the part where he said "oh, and by the way: I just learned how to come back as a ghost. not sure why I bring it up at this point, but that's why we haven't heard from Qui Gon Jin since he got killed."

endopol said @ 1:31am GMT on 12th Apr
Lightsabres were supposed to be some sort of energetic material (e.g. plasma) held in some sort of containment field.

sacrelicious said @ 1:41am GMT on 12th Apr
actually I'm pretty sure it's that George just wanted a device that allowed for the drama of sword fights, but looked techy enough to exist in a sci-fi setting.

balzac said @ 3:00am GMT on 12th Apr
Both of these explanations are accurate. George wanted laser swords: In universe it is a U shaped beam of energy that is curved back on itself with a magnetic field in an energy efficient system that only suffers signifigant energy loss when something touches the blade.

ENZ said @ 3:15am GMT on 12th Apr
In the expanded universe they use more traditional swords. Or at least as traditional as a vibrating sword can be.

I base this entirely on KotOR, because I'm not quite enough of a geek to have read the comics and paperbacks.

balzac said @ 8:06am GMT on 12th Apr
Vibroblades are common in star wars, but vibro swords are not. Kotor is 3000 years in the past.

ENZ said @ 2:22pm GMT on 12th Apr
There is no difference between a "vibroblade" and a "vibrosword" other than a few extra points of damage and the vibroblade receiving a smaller penalty from being wielded in the off-hand. It's just RPG stats bullshit. Like how a glass weapons somehow do three times the damage as steel ones in the Elder Scrolls games. A gladius and a claymore are both swords, regardless of the size difference.

What I want to know is, does a vibrating sword cut any better?

sacrelicious said @ 2:28pm GMT on 12th Apr
this is getting too geeky for me, I fold.

crom said @ 8:36pm GMT on 11th Apr
What would be the advantage of this technology for ship-to-ship combat over conventional weapons?

granitewitch said @ 8:41pm GMT on 11th Apr
More precise aim, I would think. Wind won't affect a beam of light, and you wouldn't have to lead the target. Not sure how long the pulse lasts, but if it's less than a tenth of a second it could be devastatingly accurate over a fair distance.

ComposerNate said @ 9:02pm GMT on 11th Apr
Missiles are expensive, distractable, heavy?

Mr. Langosta said @ 9:27pm GMT on 11th Apr
Shooting down cruise missiles

lilmookieesquire said @ 10:13pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:1 Insightful]
Think of the discos!

sacrelicious said @ 11:30pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:2]
or perhaps the world's deadliest Laser Floyd.

Mr_Rose said @ 9:45am GMT on 13th Apr
With the railgun and lasers mounted to an all-electric nuclear-powered battleship, the potential for a catastrophic magazine explosion is eliminated, since the magazine entirely consists of milled steel darts, and the potential risk of catastrophic engine explosion is also reduced since it is impressively hard to make an ordinary nuclear reactor go boom.

Using the lasers for missile defence makes out-ranging a railgun-equipped ship practically impossible, which means the enemy has to either catch up technologically or be prepared to take a railgun slug through the bridge/engine/magazine before they can get in range to fire their own main guns.

Supreme_Coconut said @ 8:44pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:1 Good]
Where my lasers at!

sacrelicious said @ 9:12pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:1 Funny]
did the boat belong to a the dean of a university, and if so, was the boat filled with popcorn?

opiate said @ 11:26pm GMT on 11th Apr
+8

Resplendent_Elk said @ 9:38pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:3]
HEL? Bah!

"Powerful Emission Weapon" would've been a way better name.

endopol said @ 11:25pm GMT on 11th Apr
What about the Zero-Attrition Pulse Gun?

spite48 said @ 11:32pm GMT on 11th Apr
Together they would make combat easily reducible to comic form.

sacrelicious said @ 9:43pm GMT on 11th Apr
"Similar systems had previously been tested on land, however moist sea air presented an extra challenge as it reduces a beam's power."

ALL HANDS ON DECK! they're prepping the laser! I want each and ever one of you scurvy scalawags to sodomize eachother WITHOUT DELAY! the moist air will shield us from the beams effects!

JOECAM said @ 9:59pm GMT on 11th Apr
Does it do chicken wings and Burgers?

sacrelicious said @ 10:09pm GMT on 11th Apr
those aren't grill marks, they're scan-lines!

Excited Corpse said @ 10:14pm GMT on 11th Apr
Now...lets hope all of our enemies hold still for about 20 minutes so that we can slow-roast them to death

ComposerNate said @ 10:45pm GMT on 11th Apr
Buildings don't run.

sacrelicious said @ 10:48pm GMT on 11th Apr
but sometimes they sing:

Excited Corpse said @ 3:01pm GMT on 12th Apr
They aren't aiming it at a building, they are aiming it at a boat!

JOECAM said @ 10:15pm GMT on 11th Apr

swiggy said @ 12:12am GMT on 12th Apr
I'm not exactly impressed with the practicality of this, since the fly was taped down, and tired to escape almost immediately.

Now, this, on the other hand...

tickaz said @ 12:21am GMT on 12th Apr
That gun looks like it was made in the Half Life/Portal universe.

Also: How is he shooting that gun indoors and not accidentally burning his house down?

crom said @ 1:15am GMT on 12th Apr
It's not a laser, just a very bright flashlight. So it only burns things if they happen to be at or very near its focal point.

sacrelicious said @ 10:22pm GMT on 11th Apr
we should aim one of these at each of the newly-discovered planets that are possible candidates for harboring intelligent life.

screw SETI, they'll seek us out if we start burning down their houses.

cb361 said @ 10:50pm GMT on 11th Apr [Score:2]
Alpha Centaurus is too remote to make an effective demonstration - but don't worry; we will deal with your 'sentient life form' friends soon enough

sacrelicious said @ 10:58pm GMT on 11th Apr
I sense a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of insurance claims were filed, and then suddenly rejected as "acts of extra terrestrial"...

graham said @ 1:19am GMT on 12th Apr
I wonder if he was making Rigor-Tony*

*haven't read the article, may or may not be named Tony

ckfahrenheit said @ 1:28am GMT on 12th Apr
laz0rs
to destroy all you've fapped
laz0rs
to detect all those traps

Aphex808 said @ 5:19am GMT on 12th Apr
+1 for the Prodigy reference.

sacrelicious said @ 5:52am GMT on 12th Apr
you either better be kidding, or you better know for a fact that moriati's ISP is Prodigy online.

Aphex808 said @ 5:04pm GMT on 13th Apr
That's crazy, I had no idea that sample was from another song. lol

I stand humbled.

leezurd said @ 6:11am GMT on 12th Apr
Just because...

No one else did, and some of us need to "show our age"...

http://youtu.be/NOErZuzZpS8

leezurd said @ 6:12am GMT on 12th Apr [Score:2]
...

:/

sacrelicious said @ 6:23am GMT on 12th Apr
awesome, I love Prodigy!