The SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY News Thread

[killer3000ad]

Introducing the next step in Petman.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/tFrjrgBV8K0

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

I can see it now one day......

"Okay Dave, unplug the PETMAN"
'I'm afraid I can't let you do that Dave'
*vicious neck-snap*

[Ithekro]

You know what would be impressive? If they had one of these things do the Marx Brother's mirror routine. Dancing included.

[TooPurePureBoy]

Some interesting new developments in the filming world.

http://vimeo.com/laforet/movi

See more details about it here at the inventors blog.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/

[RRW]

NASA will likely get $100 million next year to jump-start an audacious program to drag an asteroid into orbit around the moon for research and exploration purposes, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson says.

The $100 million will probably be part of President Barack Obama's federal budget request for 2014, which is expected to be released next week, Nelson (D-FL) said. The money is intended to get the ball rolling on the asteroid-retrieval project, which also aims to send astronauts out to the captured space rock in 2021.

http://www.space.com/20538-nasa-aste...e-funding.html

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by RRW

http://www.space.com/20538-nasa-aste...e-funding.html

Why do I am getting vibes of "Oppsie, it slipped, sowiee it hit <insert axis of evil country>"

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ogon_bat

Why do I am getting vibes of "Oppsie, it slipped, sowiee it hit <insert axis of evil country>"

I think the military industrial complex, once the bane of everyone, would gladly assist in the levitation device.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by ogon_bat

Why do I am getting vibes of "Oppsie, it slipped, sowiee it hit <insert axis of evil country>"

i blame the banana peel.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Originally Posted by ogon_bat

Why do I am getting vibes of "Oppsie, it slipped, sowiee it hit <insert axis of evil country>"

Someone just really wants a KKV anyway possible!

[ChainLegacy]

Originally Posted by ogon_bat

Why do I am getting vibes of "Oppsie, it slipped, sowiee it hit <insert axis of evil country>"

For it to be large enough to inflict any real damage to a country (and worth the price), there'd be massive collateral damage...

[Ithekro]

I think it was only suppose to be something like 8 meters wide.

[Ithekro]

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...id=msnhp&pos=1

The U.S. Navy announced Monday that it is preparing to deploy a new weapon that can disable a hostile boat and even destroy a surveillance drone overhead — all without dispensing any expensive ammunition.

It is the Navy's Laser Weapons System (LaWS), a laser mounted on a ship that is so strong it can ignite a drone, sending it crashing and burning to earth in mere moments.

The USS Ponce, an amphibious transport docking ship, will be the first Navy vessel to deploy with the LaWS, officials announced Monday.

The new laser will be installed on the Ponce over the next year and operational in summer 2014. The Ponce is now based in the Fifth Fleet area, which covers the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

The LaWS will initially be used to combat small boats that pose a threat to larger U.S. Navy vessels — much like the small Iranian fast boats that pester U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

The Navy plans to use the laser to combat missiles and other threats from the air, to ward off threatening ships and to stop other foreign threats. Eventually the system will be able to stop an incoming missile.

While making the announcement in Maryland today, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert praised the LaWS ability to take out targets at a tiny fraction of the cost of other conventional weapons.

He claimed that the LaWS can shoot down a small drone for about $1 worth of electricity and, once the laser is operational, it should be able to replace a Gatling gun, whose rounds can cost several thousand dollars each.

A defense official also stressed that the laser will not have full capability to take down a larger target for a decade or so.

Despite speculation the laser is deploying to the Fifth Fleet to warn Iran, a U.S. military official says that the real reason it's going to that region is that it is "the hardest environment" the Navy has available to test the new system.

Hmmm. There are telling us about it now. So who thinks they might have more operational?

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...id=msnhp&pos=1



Hmmm. There are telling us about it now. So who thinks they might have more operational?

the Captain is probably itching to say "Fire Laser Canons"

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...id=msnhp&pos=1



Hmmm. There are telling us about it now. So who thinks they might have more operational?

My bet continues to be that they must be pouring millions into an operational MASER. Think about it, an energy(microwaves) weapon that is not diluted by the atmosphere, that can't be shielded with metallic armor and that can rend any electronics nonfunctional in a matter of seconds (or less, depending on the energy in the burst). That would render ICBM useless as either the payload will explode in the high atmosphere or not at all and the only reason it would not fry a naval vessel motor hundreds of kilometers away would be earth's curvature.

[SaintessHeart]

Now we know why Vexx is not on the forums. He just got a fat bonus.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...id=msnhp&pos=1

So, what's time timeline till we can get sharks with those things attached to their freakin' heads?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Dextro

So, what's time timeline till we can get sharks with those things attached to their freakin' heads?

Soon I think. After we get one on the moon in the next manned NASA mission.

[RRW]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Soon I think. After we get one on the moon in the next manned NASA mission.

hahaha! nice joke!

.....

[Renegade334]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...id=msnhp&pos=1



Hmmm. There are telling us about it now. So who thinks they might have more operational?

Actually, it's not the first time the LAWS has been showcased to the public - last year (or was it the year before?) they released a video of the LAWS setting a high-speed boat's engine on fire and the previous test had the laser shoot down a couple of low-flying drones. They're simply saying they're very close to rolling out a final version - which should be able to engage small ships (especially suicide boat flotillas, since a PRC bigwig boasted that it'd be easy to sink a US aircraft carrier using a myriad of small boats filled with explosives) and small drones (probably as a subtle warning to Iran and the PRC, who have a growing interest in maritime UAVs). The LAWS is a potential replacement for the shipborne 25mm Bushmaster I and 30mm Bushmaster II, but not for the Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS - in that it's still not powerful/efficient enough to track and intercept supersonic antiship missiles and/or low-flying fighter planes.

Still, it's obvious that most of the development for the LAWS is done and, from here on, they just need to upgrade the power system (i.e. adapting the ship's propulsion system + power generators), the targeting software and maybe add a few minute upgrades to the emitter in order to make it a full-fledged Phalanx/Goalkeeper-like CIWS. Anyway, these news come just in time for the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)'s soon-to-come christening, as the new aircraft carrier can produce significantly more electrical power than its predecessor class, the Nimitz, and was expressly designed to receive direct energy weapons like the LAWS.

They probably don't have more than a half-dozen of LAWS operational right now and I guess those are just prototypes/testbeds/technology demonstrators.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Soon I think. After we get one on the moon in the next manned NASA mission.

You sir just won +1 internetz

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...id=msnhp&pos=1


Hmmm. There are telling us about it now. So who thinks they might have more operational?

Now witness this fully armed and operational laser cannon!