Comments on Multimode Directed Energy Armament System
I suppose calling this a 'ray gun' might be going too far, since I doubt it's portable. With proper miniaturization, maybe. (Read
the complete story)
"Reminds me of the arc-throwers in Timothy Zahn's Cobras Two. The enhanced soldiers fingertip lasers could ionize a path in the air and throw a hefty arc over it. This seems like a beefed up version of the "air taser" designed for vehicles and IED's. "
(AJ Dual 4/27/2009 5:51:06 PM)
"Yeah, same here. I thought there was an article on here earlier about research using lasers to "guide" lightning, but I couldn't find it. I know I've seen it elsewhere, tho, like Project Rho. (tho the Arc-Throwers were part of the standard COBRA design, not just for the enhanced ones. the experimental one, in the third book, was a taser/stun-gun varient of it)"
(Ashley 4/28/2009 2:13:06 PM)
"AJ, Ashley - You're right, I looked but couldn't find it. Then, spurred on to greater effort by your text perplexity, I googled obsessively - and I think I found it. The story was about the Portal Denial System Electrolaser Intruder-Zapper.
See also Ashley's extensive comments on the Arc Thrower technology in these comments to an earlier article."
(Bill Christensen 4/28/2009 2:44:46 PM)
""Now that I think about it, you might have done an article on this, instead: http://www.lightning.ece.ufl.edu/ Where I'm currently finding stuff about this is on Project Rho: http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3l.html#particlebeam and the link it leads to: http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/195.htm""
(Ashley 4/29/2009 4:17:38 PM)
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'