Japan fires death star

[The Huskar Social Union]

And so it begins...


Though seriously this is pretty cool.

[The Qeiiam Star Cluster]

We need to close the laser gap!

[The Celtic British Isles]

who would have though that in the span of a mere century, japan would go from technological backwater to technologically advanced

[Ril Island]

Meh, smoke machines are the new thing!

[Baltenstein]

*dons Kamikaze bandana*

Revenge for Hiroshima! Banzaaaaaiiiiiii!!!

[New DeCapito]

Oh, Japan. How the hell did you create a 2-petawatt frickin' laser with the power needed to use a microwave for two seconds?
EDIT: Oh, yeah. I forgot this: A laser 10 billion times less powerful took out a drone from a mile away. Have they tested this thing?

[Imperializt Russia]

Oh, Japan. How the hell did you create a 2-petawatt frickin' laser with the power needed to use a microwave for two seconds?
EDIT: Oh, yeah. I forgot this: A laser 10 billion times less powerful took out a drone from a mile away. Have they tested this thing?

They got power that high because the burst was so short. If you flash two thousand joules in a picosecond, you get a power of two petawatts.

[Northumbria]

This should be developed to protect us from any straying meteors or comets.

And also just in case the aliens show up and they're not that friendly!

[Imperializt Russia]

This should be developed to protect us from any straying meteors or comets.

And also just in case the aliens show up and they're not that friendly!

That's what we have ten thousand nuclear warheads for.

[Baltenstein]

This should be developed to protect us from any straying meteors or comets.

And also just in case the aliens show up and they're not that friendly!

That's what we have ten thousand nuclear warheads for.

Tons of respectable Anime documentaries have shown that nuclear warheads are absolutely ineffective against Alien invaders. We need giant mechas piloted by teenagers with self-esteem issues if we want to survive.

[The New Spanish Republic]

I hope they fire it at the Arabs and stupid commies lolololol

[Imperializt Russia]

That's what we have ten thousand nuclear warheads for.

Tons of respectable Anime documentaries have shown that nuclear warheads are absolutely ineffective against Alien invaders. We need giant mechas piloted by teenagers with self-esteem issues if we want to survive.

Please tell me you're referencing Gunbuster.

[The New Spanish Republic]

That's what we have ten thousand nuclear warheads for.

Tons of respectable Anime documentaries have shown that nuclear warheads are absolutely ineffective against Alien invaders. We need giant mechas piloted by teenagers with self-esteem issues if we want to survive.

Evangelion gay anime LOL

[Northumbria]

This should be developed to protect us from any straying meteors or comets.

And also just in case the aliens show up and they're not that friendly!

That's what we have ten thousand nuclear warheads for.

They have something of a nasty after effect though. Any nuclear warhead detonated anywhere near the very uppermost atmosphere will still rain down radiation.

Lasers are a much cooler way to destroy meteors (and hostile aliens).

[Grave_n_idle]

I hope they fire it at the Arabs and stupid commies lolololol

I'm amused by the thread suggesting this is a Death Star style planet-destroying laser, and there are some people who think it would be a good idea to fire it at our own planet.

Yup. That'll show them.

[Northumbria]

I hope they fire it at the Arabs and stupid commies lolololol

I'm amused by the thread suggesting this is a Death Star style planet-destroying laser, and there are some people who think it would be a good idea to fire it at our own planet.

Yup. That'll show them.

That's people for you.

[Imperializt Russia]

That's what we have ten thousand nuclear warheads for.

They have something of a nasty after effect though. Any nuclear warhead detonated anywhere near the very uppermost atmosphere will still rain down radiation.

Lasers are a much cooler way to destroy meteors (and hostile aliens).

Actually, a high-altitude detonation will produce very little material. Materials that are lofted to later produce fallout (material that literally falls out of clouds - it's a common term also used for dust suppression) are typically produced when the fireball touches the ground - this only happens in surface bursts, and to a limited extent in low-altitude air bursts. Surface bursts produce the most irradiated material, but are unable to loft much of it to great altitudes. Air bursts produce a moderate amount of material but loft much of it, which later falls out.
Fallout is itself a greatly overstated risk. We're not talking Cold War goes Hot here.

The issue of a high-altitude (atmospheric) detonation is the interactions with the earth's magnetic field which runs the risk of generating a High-Altitude EMP (HEMP), which would be catastrophic to electrical infrastructure and civil systems.

Nukes in space are cooler anyway, since instead of generating fireballs (as the X-ray flux of the burst is rapidly attenuated and absorbed by the air, which is then heated to generate the fireball, whose rapid thermal expansion then generates the blast effects) it's just a ball of instant radiation death.

[Dominated Earth]

I hope they fire it at the Arabs and stupid commies lolololol

Ya know, zapping people you don't like with a laser is considered rude by many people.

[Imperializt Russia]

I hope they fire it at the Arabs and stupid commies lolololol

Ya know, zapping people you don't like with a laser is considered rude by many people.

Just ask airline pilots.

[Kernen]

I wonder how much damage that would to to a naval vessel's hull in a pictosecond...

[The Krogan]

Cool shit

[Imperializt Russia]

I wonder how much damage that would to to a naval vessel's hull in a pictosecond...

Probably not a lot. The power transmitted means that it might cause some significant flash damage, but the total energy transferred is very low.

[Godular]

I wonder how much damage that would to to a naval vessel's hull in a pictosecond...

At best it would knock off a square centimeter of paint.

There are much nastier lasers out there, some that can actually cause a kinetic transfer.

[Meridiani Planum]

If this can be harnessed for hours, we can power the world.

Um, no!

This device consumes power, and the only reason it is so powerful is that it expends energy in such a brief burst.

[Revolutious]

I'm not too scared. Knowing Japan it's going to take an hour of transformation sequences to charge up.