The Wikipedia article for Project Excalibur has an all-timer caption for this figure:
The Wikipedia article for Project Excalibur has an all-timer caption for this figure:
Positive users praise the Wikipedia headline and documentation of bomb-pumped lasers as direct and workable, while negative users call the design bad and ineffective.

@yiningkarlli Probably won't be in the scraps bin at the back of the room 🤔

@ozymandiaq @yiningkarlli the nuke laser? the idea was that it shoots xrays to destroy nuclear missiles (yes this was part of the strategic Defense Initiative)

@yiningkarlli what does this do

@yiningkarlli Seems like a bad design.

@yiningkarlli We get it we get it you also watched the Alexander the ok video

@yiningkarlli You can fix anything with a laser

@yiningkarlli Would work just fine

@ozymandiaq @yiningkarlli Bomb-pumped Xaser.

@yiningkarlli did we all watch the alexander the ok video?!?

@GeoTwit4 @yiningkarlli yes. While the math seemed to work out, Lawrence Livermore was juicing its numbers, Followup tests with buried nuclear bombs by Los Alamos showed the X-Ray Emission was extremely poor and mostly from the bomb itself. Very little lasing happened and not enough for it to be useful.

@GeoTwit4 @yiningkarlli It didn't work that well either.

@yiningkarlli @nyrath is so fucking real for documenting that thing under probably the best headline -- "Bomb-Pumped Lasers": https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacegunconvent2.php#bombpumpedlaser

@ozymandiaq @yiningkarlli ZWOMP pewwwwwww BOOM

@yiningkarlli but the bremstrahlung would not be all xrays, there would be various particles, a strong magnetic field would be needed to deflect them