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This already sounds like the plot to a Bond movie. Oh, wait... Seriously though, this is really cool :D He also thought they could be equipped with small solar mirrors to furnish illumination at night for large cities or with giant mirrors which he said could be used to focus the sun's rays and, "in case of war, burn cities, explode ammunition plants, and do damage to the enemy generally."
One of my favorite games to play was (is*, but shhh) "Porno or Government Program?". You just reminded me of a contender. I wish I could remember some other examples, I built up a huge library of like, four examples.
Ohhh, Teller. I don't think anyone ever gave Livermore any money on that one; it was basically a sop thrown to Edward during the Reagan '80s in the middle of the SDI preposterousness. The thing about "kinetic bombardment" is it's not particularly energy-efficient; the thump you get from dropping tungsten from orbit comes entirely from, you know, putting tungsten into orbit. About the only real consideration kinetic bombardment has is the fact that it doesn't violate any existing treaties. Paglen's got a great list that he likes to project on buildings. I'll admit to a geek's delight in the names. That the F-117A stealth fighter had the code names HAVE BLUE, SENIOR TREND and working name "Hopeless Diamond" associated with it tickles me pink. You also develop a wonderful "feel" for this stuff - anything with SENIOR on it flies high and is expensive. Anything with TEAL at the beginning is designed to spy on other satellites. Anything using the word BLUE is a stealth program. And really - the fact that their own heraldry includes phrases like "behind the green door" shows you that they're fully tongue in cheek.
wow! this is really cool. saved for later reading.