Out There

Here’s an interesting idea:

If high-power microwaves, able to evaporate significant amounts of water, could be beamed down from space, what if they were beamed into the path of a hurricane? Would they be sufficient to change its track? Or, if they were beamed into the eye wall of the storm, would they vaporize enough water to reduce the strength of the storm? It seems the process might affect the winds and perhaps raise the barometric pressure near the center of the storm, and could potentially reduce, say, a Category 4 storm into a Category 3.

The author, Gray Rinehart, admits we’re “far from being able to implement or even test ideas such as this.” But his essay is trying to promote new uses for space and space-based power – and that’s what makes it a good read.

Then again, those in the reality-based community know that Karl Rove has had weather-controlling microwaves for years already.