Pentagon To Test Space Weapons

Posted by darnell on Apr 15, 2006 in Blog, Pentagon, Space Weapons | 0 comments

(Hat Tip: New Scientist Space)

As if space were not hostile enough (with all of the radiation and future health problems), it looks as if the Pentagon is arming the final frontier. I feel safer already.

(Military.com) Destruction of enemy satellites with high-powered ground-based lasers is among weapon systems the U.S. Defense Department reportedly wants to test in space. [...]

Other tests for creating a space battlefield would include a missile launched at a small satellite in orbit and a small space vehicle that could disperse weapons while traveling at 20 times the speed of sound, the report said.

Weaponizing space, although uncomfortable is probably going to become a “necessary evil” as every nation tries to harvest the future resource on the moon.

The Pentagon however is citing several “civilian advantages” towards arming the heavens above, although I am not sure if those benefits outweigh the setbacks.

(Military.com) The Globe report said the Pentagon feels its aerospace technology has advanced exponentially in the past two decades. The military says the investment is justified because the technology will also have civilian applications such as refueling or retrieving disabled satellites. [...]

A government spokesman said there are no plans to base weapons in space. ”We just want to do some experiments” on weapons technology in space, he was quoted as saying.

As long as they do not put nuclear weapons into space (or any other weapon of mass destruction) then planet Earth should remain safe. After all, would you be comfortable with the knowledge that someone has a death weapon floating hundreds of miles above your head?

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