When Theodore Harold Maiman built the world’s first laser back in 1960 it seemed like there was nothing it couldn’t do, with movies using it for blowing up people, blowing up plant pots, blowing up planets… you get the idea.

The reality of Maiman’s invention was far more mundane though; reading CDs, scanning barcodes at the check-out, and removing your Mom’s unwanted hair.

Fortunately Jon & Catherine Stead have put the laser back to a much cooler use – mining rocks in space!

‘Designed to cut away sections of rock from mountains, cliffs or crater walls of the moon to facilitate mineral extraction… via a huge, nuclear powered laser cutting system’, Jon & Catherine’s ‘Tracked Laser Mining Vehicle’ is reclaiming the laser for improbable space-related tomfoolery.

The huge tracked vehicle on which the aforementioned laser is mounted is worth a look too, and you can do just that via the link in the text above. But not before you watch what just might be the best classic laser movie trailer of all time…