A laser beam was fired into the New Mexico sky from the White Sands Missile
Range on 17 October and struck an obsolete American military satellite orbiting
some 420 kilometres overhead. But the controversial experiment, which had
previously been delayed
(This Week, 18 October, p 27), did not go as planned.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Potter, a Pentagon spokesman, says that although
ground-based sensors gathered data about the laser’s effects, sensors on the
satellite did not.
More from Â鶹´«Ã½
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Comment
Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World is still supremely relevant today
Culture
Life
Complex life on Earth may last 500 million years longer than expected
News
Earth
What lies beneath? The new era of Earth imaging
Advertising
Humans
Ancient monument marked summer solstice centuries before Stonehenge
News
Popular articles
Trending Â鶹´«Ã½ articles
1
A quantum state that lasts forever may finally be within our grasp
2
The secrets to keeping your brain sharp in old age
3
Our brains have their first thoughts surprisingly early in life
4
Cervical cancer deaths have plummeted thanks to HPV vaccine
5
Has the answer to life's origins been hiding in our cells all along?
6
Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World is still supremely relevant today
7
Why you need to future-proof your brain in middle age and how to start
8
Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time
9
Complex life on Earth may last 500 million years longer than expected
10
Â鶹´«Ã½ recommends an excellent look at the future of work