The Plasma Acoustic Shield System, or PASS, is in the process of being developed by
Stellar Photonics
Stellar means anything related to one or more stars (''stella''). The term may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Stellar'' (magazine), an Irish lifestyle and fashion magazine
* Stellar Loussier, a character from ''Mobile Suit Gu ...
. The company received a $2.7 million contract from the U.S. Government to build the PASS.
It is part of a project supervised by the
. The laser was first tested in 2008, and will continue to be tested into 2009, with the testing of turret-mounted PASS.
Function
The device is able to disorient an enemy using a series of mid-air explosions, and may also use "high-power speakers for hailing or warning, and a dazzler light source"
Its low power would mean that it would be unable to do significant damage to a specific enemy. While it would not be classified as a weapon, because of its inability to stun or disable a target, its distracting light or explosions are hoped to impede the progress of those in its path. "The
ASS
Ass most commonly refers to:
* Buttocks (in informal American English)
* Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus''
**any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus''
Ass or ASS may also refer to:
Art and entertainment
* ''Ass'' (album), 1973 alb ...
creates a “mid-air plasma ball” that “basically ignites the air in front of the person...It creates fireworks right in front of you.”
Description
The PASS uses Synchronized Photo-pulse Detonation (SPD), a technology researched by Stellar Photonics wherein two short but powerful laser pulses first create a ball of plasma, then a supersonic shockwave creates a flash and a loud bang. Pass is the first functioning SPD weapon system, and it may lead to the construction of a "man-portable tuneable laser weapon that could be used in both non-lethal and lethal modes".
See also
*
List of plasma (physics) articles
This is a list of plasma physics topics.
A
* Ablation
* Abradable coating
* Abraham–Lorentz force
* Absorption band
* Accretion disk
* Active galactic nucleus
* Adiabatic invariant
* ADITYA (tokamak)
* Aeronomy
* Afterglow plasma
...
References
External links
New Scientist Article about the PASSStellar Photonics WebpagePicatinny Advanced Energy Weapons Systems Webpage
Plasma physics
Military lasers
{{Weapon-stub