Sci-Fi Tech That Will Kill Us All (1)

Here's the first in a series of blogs where I'll look for real-life technology that previously lay in the domain of science fiction. Technology that will eventually be used by sentient machines to either enslave or eradicate us.


What?


It'll happen people. Stop looking at me like that.



First up - "The Rods from God"



This is from an article in Popular Science:



This technology is very far out—in miles and years. A pair of satellites orbiting several hundred miles above the Earth would serve as a weapons system. One functions as the targeting and communications platform while the other carries numerous tungsten rods—up to 20 feet in length and a foot in diameter—that it can drop on targets with less than 15 minutes’ notice. When instructed from the ground, the targeting satellite commands its partner to drop one of its darts. The guided rods enter the atmosphere, protected by a thermal coating, traveling at 36,000 feet per second—comparable to the speed of a meteor. The result: complete devastation of the target, even if it’s buried deep underground. (The two-platform configuration permits the weapon to be “reloaded” by just launching a new set of rods, rather than replacing the entire system.)




Here's a link the article itself for more terrifying info.


So, if I've got this straight, we are close to building a weapons system with the power of nuclear weapons, but none of that annoying fallout and radiation?


When Skynet becomes sentient, these are the weapons it will use.