Teledesic is similar to the Star Wars, "
brilliant pebbles" scheme developed by contractor Martin Marietta, which opened - and closed - to less than stellar reviews during the Reagan administration.
And in an operation poetically known as "
Brilliant Pebbles," the U.S.
In a recent letter to Congress, CPSR insists that technological implausibility, enormous costs and federal budget constraints are grounds for an orderly abandonment of SDI, including the proposed
Brilliant Pebbles' program" (which calls for thousands of computer-controlled projectiles to be placed into earth orbit to destroy hostile missiles).
This would cost at least 100 times more than
brilliant pebbles.
A constellation of small, autonomous, kinetic-energy interceptors,
Brilliant Pebbles would detect and destroy ballistic missiles in their boost, postboost, and early midcourse phases of flight.
To overcome these problems, the SDI Organization (SDIO) replaced SBI with
Brilliant Pebbles (BP).
Her owner-breeder Sheikh Marwan-one of the lesser-known Maktoums-has averaged five horses a season with Brittain since the trainer struck with the
brilliant Pebbles at the 1985 Breeders' Cup.
(Unfortunately, Clinton supports the Nunn plan for a limited, ground-based antimissile system, which demands several billion dollars a year.) The Strategic Defense Initiative budget now includes $300 million for the
Brilliant Pebbles spacebased missile interceptor, a pet scheme of the right wing.
Faster "kill vehicles" had been developed under Coopers watch as part of a program known as "
brilliant pebbles," which later was discontinued.
"
Brilliant Pebbles" (a laughable variant on the original oxymoron of "Smart Rocks") is my personal favorite.
Clive Brittain had notable successes with the
brilliant Pebbles and Sayyedati over this distance and Air Express (3.00) is rated in the same top bracket.
A research-and-development effort that emerged from SDI was
Brilliant Pebbles, which was focused on technology that would enable basing interceptors in space.