Although World War II has long since sunk into oblivion, many military developments of those years are still secret. However, among them there are those that laid the foundation for global modern projects. A striking example of this is the sun cannon, with which Hitler planned to burn out the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition.
It would be absolutely naive to think that the development of the so-called weapons of retaliation in the Third Reich was limited to a single nuclear project. In reality, German scientists have been actively working on the creation of huge tanks, more like land cruisers, manned missiles, flying discs, underground boats, human torpedoes and many other equally amazing military projects. But, fortunately for the whole world, the worst war of the 20th century ended faster than the weapons of retaliation were produced and delivered to the troops. Nevertheless, when Soviet engineers were analyzing captured documents on the development of weapons of retaliation, they were most struck by the project of a space, or solar, cannon, on which the Nazis were working.
The idea itself was extremely simple and, by and large, stolen from the ancient Greek scientist and philosopher Archimedes. As you know from historical chronicles, the famous Greek, protecting his native Syracuse with the help of focused sun rays reflected from concave mirrors, in 212 BC. incinerated the Roman fleet. The leaders of the Third Reich decided to transfer the experience of Archimedes to the 20th century by placing similar weapons in the orbit of our planet. As part of the creation of a solar cannon, the Germans planned to launch a huge concave mirror into Earth's orbit. It was assumed that from a special satellite, German astronauts would control the device - to catch and focus the sun's rays on it. And then, by changing the position of the mirror, direct the reflected rays of the Sun to the Earth, incinerating armies, cities and other vital objects of the enemies of the Third Reich.
With good intentions
The project of the solar cannon was developed and proposed to be put into practice by the German scientist of world renown Hermann Obert. This man's life story is amazing. By and large, our civilization owes the presence of modern rocketry to him. Hermann Obert entered world history as one of the founders of the invention of liquid jet fuel, as well as the author of numerous scientific and popular works on rocket science. The mere fact that Hermann Obert was the teacher of Werner von Braun, the founder of the German and then American space program, says a lot. Obert began his work on this topic long before the Second World War. Subsequently, the scientist worked closely for the war machine of the Third Reich, and then for the Americans, participating in the creation of the first artificial Earth satellite. It should be noted thatthat back in 1923, at the dawn of his scientific career, Hermann Obert wrote, one might say, the prophetic book "A Rocket in Interplanetary Space". The next in 1929 was published his work "The Way to Space Flight". In his works, the author gave detailed calculations of the required speed of rockets to enter Earth's orbit, their structure and the chemical formula of the fuel. In addition, the scientist described in every detail the model of the classical orbital station - the same as it was created in the second half of the XX century! In one of his works, Hermann Obert, among other things, described a cosmic mirror capable of directing focused sun rays to the Earth. The scientist did not plan to use his invention for military purposes. On the contrary, he was driven by a desire to help people. With the help of the cosmic mirror and the rays reflected by it, it was possible to dry the swamps,to melt permafrost, to provide warmth from the sun where people need it most. For this purpose, the scientist proposed to place a mirror 100 meters in diameter in the Earth's orbit and an orbital station to control it.
For the implementation of the project, Orbert asked for large funding and 50 years of time. However, the leadership of the Third Reich decided otherwise to take advantage of his offer.
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Weapon of retaliation
In 1941, Hermann Obert was sent to work at the famous center for the creation of German rocket technology in Peenemünde, and then transferred to another, no less secret scientific town of Hillersleben. The best physicists, chemists, engineers and designers of the Third Reich were gathered here to work on the weapon of retaliation, one of the types of which was the sun cannon, previously described in the writings of Hermann Obert. - The world community learned about the plans of the Nazis only in the spring of 1945, when Soviet troops entered the town. While sorting out the papers of the fascists, military investigators stumbled upon documents on the creation of a solar cannon. Among other types of experimental weapons of the Third Reich, put into service, but not implemented in practice, Hermann Obert's sun cannon occupied one of the leading places. Having carefully analyzed the scientist's calculations,German military physicists considered that a mirror with an area of about 3 square kilometers was needed to create a weapon to strike with a concentrated sunlight on the enemy. It was supposed to be placed at an altitude of 8,200 meters above the Earth's surface. Methods for delivering both the mirror itself and the orbital station to control it were carefully thought out. The modernized guns, with which the Germans fired at London, were supposed to solve this problem. It was assumed that after their revision, the projectiles will be able to reach low-earth orbit. By the end of the war, the Germans even had designs for a missile-projectile for this gun. The fuel for the rocket was developed by the same Hermann Orbert, and the corps was created by Wernher von Braun. The orbital station was supposed to keep in touch with the Earth via a special radio channel. To rotate a huge mirror in orbit, it was supposed to strengthen
special accelerators installed along its edges. In general, it should be noted that the project was absolutely real, but technically impracticable in the conditions of 1945. Fortunately for the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, it remained on paper.
Within SOI
Despite the fact that the Germans failed to put the solar cannon project into practice, it was not forgotten at all. Its main developers - Wernher von Braun and Hermann Obert - safely moved to the United States, where they continued to fruitfully work on the space program of their new owners.
Older readers will likely remember the hype that was inflated in the 1980s over the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program. Within its framework, the Americans planned to place satellites in low-earth orbit that could destroy Soviet ballistic missiles using lasers. In addition, the United States actively developed burning, blinding, overheating, projection and electromagnetic pulse weapons for deployment on satellites. In fact, the SOI program was a continuation of the work that Wernher von Braun and Hermann Obert conducted for several decades. In response to the American threat to deploy space weapons on artificial earth satellites, Soviet scientists actively worked on the creation of laser space guns. Their main target was to be those same ill-fated American satellites. The work was so successful that by 1987 a Soviet space fighter with a laser cannon on board the Skif-D was ready for testing. But, unfortunately, literally on the eve of his sending into space on the Energia carrier rocket, M. S. Gorbachev and made a fiery speech about the inadmissibility of transferring the arms race into space. Then the head of the USSR gave the order to destroy the space fighter. It was launched into orbit and burned in the dense layers of the atmosphere. Then the head of the USSR gave the order to destroy the space fighter. It was launched into orbit and burned in the dense layers of the atmosphere. Then the head of the USSR gave the order to destroy the space fighter. It was launched into orbit and burned in the dense layers of the atmosphere.
Magazine: All the mysteries of the world # 10, Dmitry Sokolov