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The sun gun or heliobeam ( German: ''Sonnengewehr'') is a theoretical orbital weapon, which makes use of a
concave mirror A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflecting surface. The surface may be either ''convex'' (bulging outward) or ''concave'' (recessed inward). Most curved mirrors have surfaces that are shaped like part of a sphere, but other shapes are ...
mounted on a
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
, to concentrate sunlight onto a small area at the Earth's surface, destroying targets or killing through heat.


History

In 1929, the German physicist
Hermann Oberth Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and rocket pioneer of Transylvanian Saxons, Transylvanian Saxon descent. Oberth supported Nazi Germany's war effort and re ...
developed plans for a space station from which a 100-metre-wide concave mirror could be used to reflect sunlight onto a concentrated point on the earth. Later, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, a group of German scientists at the German Army Artillery proving grounds at Hillersleben began to expand on Oberth's idea of creating a
superweapon A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures (e.g. ...
that could utilize the sun's energy. This so-called "sun gun" (''Sonnengewehr'') would be part of a space station above Earth. The scientists calculated that a huge reflector, made of metallic
sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...
and with an area of , could produce enough focused heat to make an ocean boil or burn a city. After being questioned by American officers, the Germans claimed that the sun gun could be completed within 50 or 100 years. Evidence that Japan was also attempting to develop a death ray was uncovered by American forces. With the deployment and validation of satellite mega-constellations, their use as a sun gun has also been proposed. Instead of a vast individual mirror, hundreds of low cost reflectors could in theory be synchronized to concentrate
solar irradiance Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ( ...
and aim it at a target.


See also

* Archimedes' heat ray, a purported device from antiquity which weaponized the sun's rays * 20 Fenchurch Street, a skyscraper in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
whose concave reflecting face generated extremely high temperatures - hot enough to melt plastic - by reflecting the sun's rays *
Concentrated solar power Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated whe ...
*
Solar furnace A solar furnace is a structure that uses concentrated solar power to produce high temperatures, usually for industry. Parabolic mirrors or heliostats concentrate light ( Insolation) onto a focal point. The temperature at the focal point may ...
*
Space-based solar power Space-based solar power (SBSP or SSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in outer space with solar power satellites (SPS) and distributing it to Earth. Its advantages include a higher collection of energy due to the lack of reflection ...
* Space mirror (climate engineering) * Znamya (satellite) (Not intended for use as a weapon, but similar concept of "mirrors in space" )


References

{{Reflist Proposed weapons Research and development in Nazi Germany Solar energy Space weapons Weapons of mass destruction