Word: beaming
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...Roger Batzel in what Woodruff claims was retaliation for trying to put a lid on Teller. Prior to his transfer, Woodruff was responsible for proposed SDI weapons like the X-ray laser, a device that was supposed to channel the intense X rays from a nuclear bomb into a beam of radiation. In theory, the X rays would be capable of destroying enemy ICBMs in mid-flight. But tests showed that although such devices work on a small scale, there was little evidence that they could be made powerful enough to work as effective antimissile weapons...
...drawing board is an experimental bird called Starscan, scheduled for launch in 1991. It will approach orbiting objects and test for the radiation given off by nuclear devices. But the new satellites will have a harder time establishing the presence of space-based lasers and particle-beam weapons like those proposed as part of President Reagan's Star Wars missile defense initiative. Says John Pike, a space-technology expert with the Federation of American Scientists: "Effective verification of space-based defense virtually requires cooperation from the Soviets...
...project, called Zenith Star, has never produced a laser beam, let alone a deadly one. The laser generator, which is being developed separately by TRW at an estimated cost of almost $100 million, has been plagued by problems and budget cuts over the past two years. Chemical lasers are widely discredited by scientists, who are dubious about the prospects for turning them into weapons. Moreover, they may never be tested in space because of restrictions imposed by international arms agreements. The aluminum-foil- covered model that Reagan so proudly inspected is, in the words of John Pike of the Federation...
...Honda pass again. Minimum 40 m.p.h., maximum 65 m.p.h. most of the way. Spend the night in a motel sprawled in the wasteland of an interchange construction site, the cavernous lobby enclosing a bleakly misplaced chandelier, as a cave might contain a waterfall briefly sparkling in a flashlight's beam. The room is nasty, a shivering 52 degrees F as the air conditioner roars, its Off button broken. In a pancake house, tired women, Laverne and Rosalie according to their name tags, who have spent a lifetime on their feet, shuffle up to offer waffles with whipped cream fresh from...
...miles southwest of the islands, apparently misfired. The Pentagon claimed the firings were the closest Soviet missiles had come to American soil. Said Senator Malcolm Wallop, Republican of Wyoming: "The Soviets were practicing an attack on America." The Pentagon later acknowledged that a Soviet naval vessel aimed a laser beam at two American surveillance aircraft in the area, apparently to disrupt U.S. monitoring efforts. One pilot reportedly suffered temporary eye damage...