[FPSPACE] A Russian question about Solid State Heat Capacity Lasers

[E.P. Grondine]

The last question in this interview is interesting: 

http://www.interfax.com/17/470201/Interview.aspx

The INTERFAX reporter is referring to CAPS, and to Solid State Heat Capacity Lasers, which can be used both for asteroid and comet deflection or for military purposes, including ballistic missile defense.

The Senator answered truthfully, as NASA is not involved with SSHCL development. NASA's task is to find these things as early as possible, and it was positive to hear the Senator state that international cooperation is desired. What role SSHCL may play in a Moon based lidar detection system is a technical issue I am not current on.

Coordinating systems for observations will need to be in place by the time Comet Schwassmann Wachmann 3 makes its 2011 pass.  Once again, when one of these things hits it looks like a nuclear explosion, so there is going to have to be some kind of mechanism put in place to prevent accidental retaliations.

Deflection, whether by simple mass impact, nuclear charge, or SSHCL will be a separate thread of discussion. My guess based on past history (and let me emphasize here that I have had a stroke, and have no contact)  is that discussions among physicists at some appropriate forum(s) may precede negotiations. I suspect that this time the forum(s) will have not only US and Russian participants, but possibly Chinese and European participants as well.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas, and
A History of Cosmonautics, Vol 1-4, and
Amazing Stories - a guide inside the fringe
(still waiting for the L. Ron Hubbard-KGB materials to be 
declassified.)






_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™ Hotmail®:…more than just e-mail. 
http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_hm_justgotbetter_explore_022009
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/fpspace/attachments/20090220/42252a44/attachment.html