Sun gun

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Theoretical orbital weapon

title: "Sun gun" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["proposed-weapons", "research-and-development-in-nazi-germany", "solar-energy", "space-weapons", "weapons-of-mass-destruction"] description: "Theoretical orbital weapon" topic_path: "geography/germany" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_gun" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Theoretical orbital weapon ::

The sun gun or heliobeam (German: Sonnengewehr) is a theoretical orbital weapon, which makes use of a concave mirror mounted on a satellite, to concentrate sunlight onto a small area at the Earth's surface, destroying targets or killing through heat and burning.

History

In 1929, the German physicist Hermann Oberth developed plans for a space station from which a 100-metre-wide concave mirror could be used to reflect sunlight onto a concentrated point on the earth.

Later, during World War II, a group of German scientists at the German Army Artillery proving grounds at Hillersleben began to expand on Oberth's idea of creating a superweapon that could utilize the sun's energy. This so-called "sun gun" (Sonnengewehr) would be part of a space station 8200 km above Earth. The scientists calculated that a huge reflector, made of metallic sodium and with an area of 9 sqkm, could produce enough focused heat to make an ocean boil or burn a city. Evidence that Japan was also attempting to develop a death ray was uncovered by American forces.

With the deployment and validation of satellite mega-constellations, their use as a sun gun has also been proposed. Instead of a vast individual mirror, hundreds of low cost reflectors could in theory be synchronized to concentrate solar irradiance and aim it at a target.

References

(July 9, 1945). "Science: Sun Gun". [[Time Magazine]].
Burke, Myles. (February 3, 2025). "'It could illuminate an area the size of a football stadium': How Russia launched a giant space mirror in 1993".
(July 23, 1945). "The German Space Mirror". [[Life Magazine]].
(1945-10-07). "Japanese Had 'Death Ray' In Stage of Development". The New York Times.
Fanning, William J.. (2010). "The Historical Death Ray and Science Fiction in the 1920s and 1930s". Science Fiction Studies.
Grunden, Walter E.. (2005). "Secret weapons and World War II: Japan in the shadow of big science". University Press of Kansas.
Shiga, David. "Space mirrors could create Earth-like haven on Mars".

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