Particle beams – streams of atoms or subatomic particles accelerated to nearly the speed of light – have been the holy grail of space warfare. The idea is simple: fire a tightly focused beam of high-energy particles at an enemy satellite or missile, damaging it through sheer kinetic and thermal energy.
But turning this vision into reality has remained out of reach. One critical reason is power.
To work, a particle beam weapon needs not just massive amounts of energy, but also extreme precision…
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