by now, we all know that the West Coast of the US is experiencing wild fires like never seen before.
Most of them caused by extremely dry conditions, lightening strikes, and some of them by arson.
However, here comes a new twist, from government sources....
before getting into it, let me tell you what I remember from last year's fire season. Lilving in CA, I may have paid more attention to the happenings than people far away from us.
We all saw the horrific videos of people driving their cars through burning forests. We all saw the remains of houses burnt down.
However, there also were some strange images that seem to defy physics.
There were cars, parked by the roadside, that were burned out with such intensive heat that their engine blocks liquified, with the molten metal flowing out from under the cars.... yet the bushes on the side of the road were untouched.
We saw images of residential streets where each house down the street was turned into pulverized ashes with nothing left standing, while the trees surrounding and separating the homes were untouched.
How could this be?
As always, there were some "conspiracy theorists" who came up with outlandish explanations last year.... such as "Direct Energy Weapons"... weapons that project an intense beam of energy to the ground, enough to melt the engine in a car.
Outlandish and ridiculous theories !
But wait..... now Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, made comments about exactly the same theories, warning that China was employing “directed energy weapons” and “killer satellites” against the United States.
his comments were made at the AirForce Association's cyber conference.
He is not insinuating that all these fires were caused by such weapons, but our adversaries could have used them to create further chaos in the US, or to simply practice with their new toys. It certainly would explain some of the strange images I described above.
I have no doubt that there is top secret technology that exists in this realm that we will not know about until its employed frequently.
However, it seems very unlikely to be responsible for the incidents that you describe.
A particle or plasma beam or whatever would could not be generated in China with enough energy to pinpoint targets across the Pacific Ocean undetected. Not those distances.
Maybe there is a technology that could do this at closer ranges, as in from above the site being targeted but again, there is no way that a device powerful enough to generate something like this would go undetected.
This is not my area of expertise but just what makes sense from a scientific point of view.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon
A directed-energy weapon (DEW) is a ranged weapon that damages its target with highly focused energy, including laser, microwaves and particle beams. Potential applications of this technology include weapons that target personnel, missiles, vehicles, and optical devices.
"...A particle or plasma beam or whatever would could not be generated in China with enough energy to pinpoint targets across the Pacific Ocean undetected. Not those distance..."
No, it couldn't possibly come from China... the curvature of the earth would not allow it. It would come from a satellite... some 200 miles above earth.
the Worldview-3 satellite has a 31cm resolution (1 foot). However, spy satellites are suspected to have 1 cm resolutions. They can see cracks in the sidewalk. It would be easy for them to target a house, or even a car.
Being from the DoD, the linked comment, of course, makes China the villain. It seems to me, our own military industrial complex would not hesitate to experiment with their new toys right here at home. It wouldn't be the first time
I have a strong belief that the next war (i Hope there isn't one) will be fought from space. Our 13 carrier fleets (today's symbol of US military might) will be useless. China has made huge investments (and progress) in space technology.
For example, they have the means to disable our navigation satellites. Just image... there is war, and our bombers, fighter jets and submarines suddenly don't know where they are, or how to get back home to base.
Trump had a lot of forsight (or good advice from his military advisors) to establish a "Space force".
OK, I see your point on the curvature of the earth but my guess is that a device capable of creating that much energy is going to be much larger than a satellite.
And the US is tracking every one of China's 100+ satellites and knows what they are doing.
It is a fascinating topic though and for sure their is plenty of potential to use new technologies for good and nefarious strategies.
I would venture a guess that if the Chinese or Russians got busted using a satellite to attack the US in the manner you speculated about that the satellite would go bye bye real fast and we would be showing the evidence to the world, which would be punishing the Chinese for these actions.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/idealab/satellites-earth-orbit
I would venture a guess that if the Chinese or Russians got busted using a satellite to attack the US in the manner you speculated about that the satellite would go bye bye real fast
Just curious. Do we have the technology to take out a satellite?
Absolutely we do Tim.
They are called anti satellite weapons. The US, China, Russia and India have proven they can do this.
More later today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon
Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Several nations possess operational ASAT systems. Although no ASAT system has yet been utilised in warfare, a few nations have shot down their own satellites to demonstrate their ASAT capabilities in a show of force. Only the United States, Russia, China, and India have demonstrated this capability successfully. The roles include: a defensive measure against an adversary's space-based nuclear and weapons, a force multiplier for a nuclear first strike, a countermeasure against an adversary's anti-ballistic missile defense (ABM), an asymmetric counter to a technologically superior adversary, and a counter-value weapon.
On 21 February 2008, the U.S. Navy destroyed the malfunctioning U.S. spy satelliteUSA-193 using a ship-fired RIM-161 Standard Missile 3.
Launch of the SM-3 missile used to destroy USA-193.
USA-193 was an American reconnaissance satellite, which was launched on 14 December 2006 by a Delta II rocket, from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was reported about a month after launch that the satellite had failed. In January 2008, it was noted that the satellite was decaying from orbit at a rate of 500 m (1640 ft) per day.[20] On 14 February 2008, it was reported that the United States Navy had been instructed to fire an RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 ABM weapon at it, to act as an anti-satellite weapon.[21]
According to the U.S. government, the primary reason for destroying the satellite was the approximately 450 kg (1000 lb) of toxic hydrazine fuel contained on board, which could pose health risks to persons in the immediate vicinity of the crash site should any significant amount survive the re-entry.[22] On 20 February 2008, it was announced that the launch was carried out successfully and an explosion was observed consistent with the destruction of the hydrazine fuel tank.[23]
"There were cars, parked by the roadside, that were burned out with such intensive heat that their engine blocks liquified, with the molten metal flowing out from under the cars.... yet the bushes on the side of the road were untouched."
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/12/oregon-wildfires-melted-truck-cars/
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/09/20/climate-arson-and-other-wildfire-nonsense/#comment-3088972
"Flames in average fires along the ground in managed forests might reach several feet in height and temperatures of 1,472° F (800° C), says Wildfire Today. But under conditions now found in western tinderboxes, flame heights can reach 165 feet (50 meters) or more, and crown fires can generate critter-roasting, soil-baking temperatures that exceed 2192 degrees F (1200 C). Wood bursts into flame at 572 F. Aluminum melts at 1220, silver at 1762, and gold at 1943 degrees F (1064 C)! 2192 degrees is hellish."
