China has successfully tested a real-life weapon that evokes the Star Wars Death Star laser.
In 2024, seven vehicles in western China each transmitted a high-powered microwave beam that converged precisely in both time and space, creating a powerful super-beam. In the 1977 Star Wars film, the Death Star weapon projected eight smaller beams that melded into a planet-smashing blast.
But this prospective high-powered microwave (HPM) weapon isn't meant for disintegrating a planet. According to a November 2024 article in the South China Morning Post that described the test, China envisions suppressing or even destroying orbiting satellites, including the ones transmitting satellite navigation and communication signals. Unlike anti-satellite malware and conventional radio-frequency signal jamming, direct energy weapons irreversibly destroy their targets. They're more like the "ion cannon" depicted in the 1980 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which knocks out orbiting electrical systems. |
China has successfully tested a real-life weapon that evokes the Star Wars Death Star laser.
In 2024, seven vehicles in western China each transmitted a high-powered microwave beam that converged precisely in both time and space, creating a powerful super-beam. In the 1977 Star Wars film, the Death Star weapon projected eight smaller beams that melded into a planet-smashing blast.
But this prospective high-powered microwave (HPM) weapon isn't meant for disintegrating a planet. According to a November 2024 article in the South China Morning Post that described the test, China envisions suppressing or even destroying orbiting satellites, including the ones transmitting satellite navigation and communication signals. Unlike anti-satellite malware and conventional radio-frequency signal jamming, direct energy weapons irreversibly destroy their targets. They're more like the "ion cannon" depicted in the 1980 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which knocks out orbiting electrical systems. |
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