Polyus was designed to destroy satellites with a one-megawatt laser.
The ambitions of the United States and the Soviet Union, late in the Cold War, to launch massive weapons into outer space sounds like a fever dream today. Few however know just how serious it got, with the USSR making impressive progress on plans for a so-called “Red Death Star” to be launched into orbit.
Despite signing a 1972 anti–ballistic missile treaty with the United States, the USSR continued research into missile defense well into the 1970s. When President Ronald Reagan announced his "Star Wars" concept in March 1983—a moonshot-like missile shield that would render ICBMs obsolete—the Soviets were ready with a response.
WNU Editor: I mentioned about a month or two that my uncle was involved in the Soviet Union's military satellite program. He was a director at their plant in St. Petersburg. What always struck me about my uncle and his colleagues was their passionate belief that everything was possible .... and the Soviet space program reflected that mindset. Unfortunately .... there are limits, and the Polyus disaster attests to what happens when everything falls apart.
1 comment:
A great story. A laser in space no less. It's really something to know that right up to the end there were Soviets who were willing to go toe to toe with the U.S. For all their "bubba" engineering, they made discoveries, advances and strides that have an impact to this day.
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