US lab debuts super laser

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star.

The National Ignition Facility's main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in safe fusion power.

"We have invented the world's largest laser system," actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said during a dedication ceremony attended by thousands including state and national officials.

news.yahoo.com...

This is a look into the future of warfare. This is straight out of Star Wars.

I saw that today again on Yahoo.... I yet again ask.."What "on" this world would we need this for?".... Im starting to see a trend happening with these type of "multi" use inventions..
Hey check our new toy out we can use this laser to study stars from far away... "Oh" and it's also got this cool feature we found out that it also burns as hot as a star......So now we can say this mega powerful weapon has a practical use... for when we don't need to blow up a giant alien ship or some alien out post on Mars.... What better way to hid a military weapon of this caliber than stick it right under our nose...as a instrument of study..

This is very cool! Not sure what we would need a laser that hot for ...other than vaporizing incoming asteroids or comets with possible impact trajectories.

Originally posted by CaptGizmo
This is very cool! Not sure what we would need a laser that hot for ...other than vaporizing incoming asteroids or comets with possible impact trajectories.

Or mount it from a satellite therefore being able to vaporize anything you want.

Hiding in a mountain? Meh just melt a hole in it.

Just wondering... What are you saying in your avatar?

[edit on 1-6-2009 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod


My avatar is a character named FPS Doug. A couple of guys in Canada made some skits making fun of online gamers and how they act...its actually pretty funny...look up FPS Doug on youtube and see. He has this saying "BOOM HEAD SHOT"

Originally posted by CaptGizmo
...other than vaporizing incoming asteroids or comets with possible impact trajectories.

My guess, it still won't pack enough energy to vaporize large asteroids on a collision course with Earth. It has to be able to pack the energy output equivalent to thousands or even millions of Megaton-Class hydrogen bombs.

That is highly unlikely, but deflection is possible if done over a long period, continually firing the laser at a comet let's say, for months..

reply to post by tsloan


Its not a weapon, it a nuclear fusion experiment

The latest step in a 40 year project to achieve nuclear fusion.
It cant be used to "vaporize" anything other than the small pellet of deuterium/tritium.

The national ignition facility


DaMod,

Or mount it from a satellite therefore being able to vaporize anything you want.

Bay #2 of the NIF


It would be pretty hard to fit that in a sattellite

I optimistically see this at a step towards free energy. The ability to create a star on the earth would be an incredible resource. So long as we could maintain it and ensure it would not be a danger to the planet.

reply to post by punkinworks09


Well, what do we do with technology? We invent something and then make it smaller.

Originally posted by DaMod
reply to post by punkinworks09

 

Well, what do we do with technology? We invent something and then make it smaller.

Thats rediculous, it would be like saying we could eventually shrink te Titanic down to row boat size and still have it be the titanic.

Originally posted by punkinworks09

Originally posted by DaMod
reply to post by punkinworks09

 

Well, what do we do with technology? We invent something and then make it smaller.

Thats rediculous, it would be like saying we could eventually shrink te Titanic down to row boat size and still have it be the titanic.

Ok, case and point..

The microchip

The transition from computers that take up an entire room to pocket pc's

The cell phone

The CRT to LCD

LED Lights

Unmanned aircraft

Micro Robotics

Remote control boats, airplanes, cars.

The titanic is a ship.... It needs to be buoyant and large enough to hold passengers. A laser needs to be large enough to burn stuff. You cannot compare the two. I mean you probably offered the worst possible argument ever! The titanic? No Compare.

Even inside the world of laser technology shrinking has been done.


[edit on 2-6-2009 by DaMod]

[edit on 2-6-2009 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod


Its a perfect comparison, the titanic is a compex machine built for a specific purpose, just as the national ignition facility is an extremely complex machine built for a specific purpose.
The titanic was built large enough to haul the required # of passengers at the required speed across the atlantic.
Just as the NIF is built to provide the power needed achieve nuclear fusion of dueterium/tritium.
Just as the Titanic isnt just a big boat, the NIF isnt just a big laser.

Its 196 lasers built for a specific purpose, along with mirrors and the photo exciters and the largest capacitors ever built.

this statement,

The titanic is a ship.... It needs to be buoyant and large enough to hold passengers. A laser needs to be large enough to burn stuff. You cannot compare the two. I mean you probably offered the worst possible argument ever! The titanic? No Compare.

just re-enforces th fact that you have no idea what the NIF is or even a basic understanding of the subject at hand.

Originally posted by punkinworks09
reply to post by DaMod

 

Its a perfect comparison, the titanic is a compex machine built for a specific purpose, just as the national ignition facility is an extremely complex machine built for a specific purpose.
The titanic was built large enough to haul the required # of passengers at the required speed across the atlantic.
Just as the NIF is built to provide the power needed achieve nuclear fusion of dueterium/tritium.
Just as the Titanic isnt just a big boat, the NIF isnt just a big laser.

Its 196 lasers built for a specific purpose, along with mirrors and the photo exciters and the largest capacitors ever built.

this statement,

The titanic is a ship.... It needs to be buoyant and large enough to hold passengers. A laser needs to be large enough to burn stuff. You cannot compare the two. I mean you probably offered the worst possible argument ever! The titanic? No Compare.

just re-enforces th fact that you have no idea what the NIF is or even a basic understanding of the subject at hand.

Ummm Yes i do..

Clicky Da Linkage

I understand what it is going to be used for, how it works, why it works etc. etc.! I'm not dumb! I also understand why it is so big! I am just saying one day they will probably shrink it...

[edit on 3-6-2009 by DaMod]

I just saw the ghost of Tesla enter the room. He's muttering something about wanting his paperwork back.

Reply to post by CaptGizmo

Exactly, There is an asteroid 10 miles in diameter on a direct path to the Earth, expected somewhere around Nov-Dec 2012. Governments of the world won't tell us directly because of mass hysteria, only making preparations and secretely making plans and building things to "possibly" stop this mass extinction event from happening.
All this 2012 doomsday nonsense is them warning us without telling us directly. Doomsday vaults, underground military bunkers to protect the elite. Remember, not everyone can fit into them bunkers, so why would they tell us?


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

People still think a asteroid is going to strike Earth. The only one I heard of that could come extremely close to Earth is in 2027 I do believe, and even if there were a asteroid coming for earth in 2012, private and civillian astronomers would be more than capable of spotting it and mapping the trajectories and punching in a plethra of coordinates and equations into their calculators to make the call, and it'd hit mainstream news like Hiroshima.

This laser is OBVIOUSLLY being used for repelling the metallic dragon fleet, whom shoot clouds of Swin Flu crossbred with H5N1 from their mouths.

Anyways, right on scientists. Wouldn't want to be in the way of that beam of death =\

Equipment connected to a house-sized sphere can focus 192 laser beams on a small point, generating temperatures and pressures that exist at cores of stars or giant planets.

Does the temp and pressure come from the lasers joining into a point in the center of the system (lasers pushing against lasers)? Or does it just come from lasers coming to a point?

If it were the first scenario, I don't see this as being a very reliable weapon. I suppose the temp from the many laserswould be enough to eventually cut holes in metal, but to deter an object with a lot of force behind it, say an asteroid? ehhh..

If it is the second scenario, I could definitely see this as some kind of bad ass weaponry. Who needs nukes when you can snipe enemies from say a satellite?

I don't know a lot about lasers, could someone give a dummy summy of what this laser system does? With possible applications, besides the stated ignition of fusion, etc.



[edit on 3-6-2009 by shanerz]

[edit on 3-6-2009 by shanerz]

reply to post by shanerz


Ill fill you in,
No it cant be used for anything else, nor could it ever be "minitureized" as was implied in an earlier post.
No it would not be a very reliable weapon, because it could never a weapon.

Nor could it ever be made to fit in a satellite, 3 football fields would fit inside the complex.
Again laser bay #2 at the NIF
thats just one building in the complex, notice the 3 men in the photo(lower left of center), that should give some scale to the picture.






The process only starts with a laser, the light from the laser is turned into x-rays and the x-rays heat and compress the fuel pellet.

The amount of energy used in one shot is equal to the electrical output of the entire USA for a year.
Its a purpose built machine to study nuclear fusion thats all, it could never be used as a weapon nor could it be made small enough to fit in a sattellite.
Each of the 192 laser cabinets is the size of a car.