Orbital weaponry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Orbital weaponry is any weapon that is in orbit around a large body such as a planet or moon. This can include space to ground, space to air, or space to space weaponry. Currently there are no orbital weapons systems in Earth orbit. There were two treaties that were signed during the Cold War which prohibit any weapons of mass destruction from being placed into space. These are the Outer Space Treaty and the SALT II treaty.
In the 1980s Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative which was to be an orbital anti-ICBM defense system in which a laser would intercept incoming ICBMs as they would approach high altitudes. This plan was abandoned and replaced with work on satellite-based mini-missiles to be used as interceptors. Finally in 1993 the entire SDI was abandoned for ground based missile defense systems.
Many countries and non-government organizations are proponents of a Space Preservation Treaty which would ban placing any weaponry into outer space. The United States is the only spacefaring power opposed, The Pentagon seems keen on developing space based weaponry. More recently, the concept of kinetic bombardment has been proposed by the United States government. This would be an orbital weapon that is not considered a weapon of mass destruction and therefore would not violate current treaties.
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[edit] Science fiction
The concept of orbital weaponry is very popular in science fiction. Orbital kinetic weapons, orbital energy weapons like lasers, and orbital explosives are all popular. Some more noteworthy fictional orbital weapons include:
[edit] Film
- A laser satellite made of diamonds by Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.
- Icarus, a satellite made of diamonds in the James Bond film Die Another Day which has the capability of harnessing the sun's power and directing it to any point on the globe.
[edit] Literature
- Numerous types of beam weaponry present in Peter F. Hamilton's science fiction novels, such as the X-Ray cannon in the Night's Dawn trilogy, and the particle lance and atom laser in Pandora's Star.
- Orbital particale cannon satellite network exists around earth in the anime Bubblegum Crisis.
- Orbital quantum laser satellite from the anime, Darkside Blues
- ODIN, an orbital energy weapon featuring in Phillip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles that features strongly in the last book in the series; A Darkling Plain.
[edit] Television
- In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Tears of the Prophets," orbital weapons platforms were used by the Cardassians to defend the Chin'toka system. The platforms were protected by regenerative shields, and armed with 3 heavy disruptor cannons and 1,000 plasma torpedoes. These platforms were powered from a remote asteroid moon within the Chin'toka system. Orbital weapon platform were also seen in orbit of Cardassia in the final episode of the series, "What You Leave Behind". Following the Dominion withdrawal from the Battle of Cardassia, Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets were to attack them.
- In The X-Files episode "Kill Switch", a "warbird grade" orbital weapons platform is revealed to be possessed by the USA's Department of Defense. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are almost killed when a weapons platform targets them.
- In the Babylon 5 universe, the earth was protected by a network of orbital defence platforms. Which could face toward the planet and away from it. It has multiple missile launchers and a single beam weapon.
- "SOGCG" (Sub Oribital Giant Chicken Gun) was used in the Iranian cartoon "Dabah El Kaber" as the ultimate weapon of the series main antagonist (Dr. Farah)
[edit] Video games
- The GENESIS cannon from Gundam SEED, capable of incinerating half the Earth's surface with highly concentrated gamma radiation.
- The SOLG (Strategic Orbital Linear Gun), a military attack satellite in Namco's videogame Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. The SOLG was designed to launch MIRVs to attack multiple targets on the planet of Strangereal, the world where the videogames take place.
- The Ion Cannon from the Command and Conquer series is a GDI orbital weapon used against Nod forces.
- The "VAPOR WeP" orbital ion cannon, introduced to the Unreal Tournament video game series in the 2003 version, which is aimed and activated by a laser painter available to players on the battlefield.
- In Gears of War, the video game, there is a 'Hammer of Dawn', an Orbital Laser Weapon that is available to the player to fire down on enemies.
- The computer game Halo 2 begins on one of the 300 platforms, called MACs (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) orbiting the Earth. These stations were set in geo-syncronous orbit around populated planets for protection against enemy starships. They fire depleted uranium shells in tungsten casings at relativistic velocites. According to Sergeant Johnson they can "put a round clean through a Covenant capital ship" . They are also usable as docks for smaller ships. Named stations include the 'Cairo', the 'Malta' and the 'Athens', which make up a supposedly impenetrable battle cluster. It is also one of the few orbital weapons in science fiction to be pointed away from earth instead of towards it.
- It is suspected that the Particle Cannon from Command & Conquer: Generals could be classed as an orbital weapon. However, the Particle Cannon itself is ground-based and merely reflects off a giant orbiting mirror.
