The Star Wars Anti-Missile Program Might Be Fighting a Different War

The smart guys and gals behind the 1980s missile shield are attempting to build a Weapon of Mosquito Destruction in the hope of winning a war which has been fought for quite some time now.

This war against malaria has silently claimed more lives than any other war had. It does not respect POW’s, it does not follow any rules of engagement and it definitely does not spare non-combatants—including women and children. I believe that this is the war we should be fighting in—a war against all mankind, not among them.

Of course, technology is at the heart of this war. This new weapon is supposed to work by locking-in to the sound generated by the mosquito’s wings and shooting it with a laser beam ala Death Star. Needless to say, a computer does the detection of the sonar source, the aiming and the activation of the laser.

I am just wondering how the technology would be implemented. Would it be packaged as an appliance which would sit in your living room and buzz the heck out of a squadron of flying mosquitoes, or would it be placed on board a satellite in low earth orbit ready to decimate mosquitoes to extinction?

Interestingly, Mr. Gates is funding the project. That means there is a big chance that Microsoft will be the company tasked to provide the embedded software or operating system of this device.

One final question, will there be a remote control reset button that goes with the device? You can’t simply go near it to press it’s reset button if it hangs and decides to shoot in every direction, you know. With the remote, at least you can reboot it behind cover. :)