Vegas "Death Ray" Hotel: Architectural Mishap, or Military Experiment?

News in recent days has been inundated with reports of a particular hotel in Las Vegas, the Vdara, and its peculiar ability to burn skin, char hair, and melt plastic.

It seems the unique design of the hotel, along with its reflective windows and exterior, acts as a magnifying glass, amplifying the rays of the sun to potentially dangerous levels.

Hotel officials claim this is simply an accident caused by unscrupulous architects and contractors. But some say otherwise.

A military official, who wished to remain anonymous, claims the hotel is in fact an applied experiment on technology the U.S. Airforce and NASA have been developing for over a decade.

"This is a controlled experiment," says the official. "What we've been trying to do for the last 13 years is develop a technology to potentially use in satellites as part of a new defense system."

The project is part of the infamous "Star Wars" concept first brought to light by President George W. Bush a decade ago. In this scenario, says the source, satellites equipped with lenses and mirrors could magnify the rays of the sun and focus them on a specified enemy target on Earth to burn, melt or start fires.

But the potential for greater catastrophe is not to be taken lightly, says the source.

"We've run various scenarios in which this technology could become dangerous not just to the targets on the ground, but to the Earth in general ... Enough of these satellites being used at once could potentially heat the atmosphere to dangerous levels in a relatively short amount of time."

Science fiction fanatics may see a connection here. In the 1974 novel "A Flash of Light," by James F. Buckthorn, an advanced alien civilization used a similar technology as a weapon against their enemies. The name of that civilization? The Vdaran Empire.

Whether this technology will be put into practical use in the military is still a matter of debate. As for the hotel, the military official believes it will soon be demolished, as many hotels and casinos often are in Las Vegas long before they have outlived their structural integrity.

"Once the experiment is done, it will probably be demolished or retro-fitted to eliminate the 'death ray' qualities ... And then we may see whether [the technology] was deemed sufficient
for actual military use."