NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Orbital weapon

Orbital weaponry is any weapon that is in orbit around a large body such as a planet or moon. This can include space to ground, space to air, or space to space weaponry. Currently there are no orbital weapons systems in Earth orbit. There were two treaties that were signed during the Cold War which prohibit any weapons of mass destruction from being placed into space. These are the Outer Space Treaty and the SALT II treaty. The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies also known as the Outer Space Treaty (the Treaty), was opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union (the three... nSALT II was a second round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks from 1972-1979 between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons. ...

In the 1980s Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative which was to be an orbital anti-ICBM defense system in which a laser would intercept incoming ICBMs as they would approach high altitudes. This plan was abandoned and replaced with work on satellite-based mini-missiles to be used as interceptors. Finally in 1993 the entire SDI was abandoned for ground based missile defense systems. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly called Star Wars after the popular science fiction series, was a system proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear missiles. ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ...

Many countries and non-government organizations are proponents of a Space Preservation Treaty which would ban placing any weaponry into outer space. The United States is the only spacefaring power opposed, the The Pentagon seems keen on developing space based weaponry. More recently, the concept of kinetic bombardment has been proposed by the United States government. This would be an orbital weapon that is not considered a weapon of mass destruction and therefore would not violate current treaties. The Space Preservation Treaty (SPT) is a proposed international treaty to ban space weapons. ... A pre-9/11 view of The Pentagon, looking east with the Potomac River and Washington Monument in the distance. ...

Science fiction

The concept of orbital weaponry is very popular in science fiction. Orbital kinetic weapons, orbital energy weapons like lasers, and orbital explosives are all popular. Some more noteworthy fictional orbital weapons include: The range of sizes in which lasers exist is immense, extending from microscopic diode lasers (top) to football field sized neodymium glass lasers (bottom) used for inertial confinement fusion. ...

Akira (Japanese: ã‚¢ã‚ãƒ©) is a manga and 1988 anime movie by Katsuhiro Otomo. ... Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character in the James Bond universe. ... Official sites James Bond Official Homepage Official Danjaq 007 website Ian Fleming Publications official website Miss Moneypennys Rolodex Mr. ... A 2002 Penguin Books paperback edition Diamonds Are Forever, published in 1956, is the fourth James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. ... EMP redirects here. ... GoldenEye is the seventeenth James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Flemings British secret service agent, James Bond. ... Die Another Day is the twentieth James Bond film made by EON Productions and the fourth and final film to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Flemings James Bond. ...

See also