Speculative Fact #246: The Star Wars Program

Satirically dubbed the “stars wars” program, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), first proposed by President Reagan, was a complex nuclear ballistic missile interception concept. From orbital x-ray lasers powered by controlled H bomb detonations to rail cannons, the concepts became more complex and advanced as more time and money were invested. It was criticized (among other things) for spending vast funds on ventures that were not technically feasible at the time.
            Some of the technologies that got researched, though originally intended for military applications, were adapted for civilian and scientific use (such as the development of new tracking equipment for astronomical observations).
            Does your story need some advanced or out-of-the-box weapons that have a sliver of scientific and historical backing? Are you pondering some new emerging field of civilian enterprise that military funding could have unexpectedly sparked? Enter star wars.

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