Outer space

US military wants $300M to start testing satellite-mounted lasers and ‘particle beams’

The U.S. military is looking to develop and test more weapons it can blast into space to fire at targets on the surface of the earth.

According to Defense One, the first plan on the agenda is a space laser that could be used to blow up enemy missiles "coming off the launch pad".

A study to see if this is feasible should wrap up within six months, but only takes up $15m (£11m) of the total budget.

Much of the rest of the cash is going to a project to develop space-based "particle beam" weapons.

While lasers fire high-energy light at targets, particle beam weapons would accelerate a stream of subatomic particles to ludicrously high speeds and direct them at the target.

While each particle only has a tiny mass, enough of them moving fast enough would be able to impart a serious amount of energy in a very short space of time.