Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisFromChicago
about as plausible as Navy missles I would say
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Some years after Flt 800, this Mad Scientist at BNL was involved in a project that was working to develop a UV Laser Raman LIDAR system that could shoot a pencil thin beam at a liquid target one kilometer away to get a reflected spectrum that could be used to determine the precise chemicals in the target. The laser system was in an RV along with a gas powered generator and we parked it on the top of the berm of the RHIC accelerator some 90 ft in the air and aimed at a target in the center of the RHIC ring on a tower at the same height as our RV. This was to ensure the beam was unable to hit people on the ground and the beam was range limits because UV beams of this energy generate ozone in the air it goes through so the beam is eventually fully absorbed. We calculated that the beam would be no hazard beyond about a 1.5 km. The goal was to develop a system that could be used by firemaen or the military to examine chemical spills or smoke plumes or on a battlefield think chemical weapons. The group made a minature system that could be carried by a pair of men or loaded in car or SUV. It could analyze stuff at a range of 100 meters. BNL licensed the technology to a major defense contractor and saw it tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in MD. After that the technology disappeared into a black hole.
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