this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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Privacy
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Are you talking about launching your own satellite with the ability to aim a laser at another satellite while in orbit, or are you talking about attempting to point a ground based laser at something moving at roughly Mach 24 or faster?
Beam decoherence is a pretty big problem when you are lasering through the entire atmosphere, and both scenarios require an astounding degree of precision.
The latter - targeting from ground. While that sounds daunting, it's already possible. Sats can aim data laser beams at other sats at even higher relative speeds.
Beam coherence is the only problem with targeting sats from the ground. But remember, these sats come with big telescopes to collect as much light as they can. It may not take a lot of radiative flux to overload their sensors. I wonder how much it will take to completely fry them.
Honey, the REAL question you're going to have to answer is how the fuck you're going to target an object around the size of your face from 400km away while it's moving at thousands of miles per hour. Not only THAT, you also have to shoot it within a very narrow angle to ensure the power of the laser hits the sensor directly. Not only THAT THAT, but you also have to be completely certain the camera doesn't have some sort of aperture that's closed whenever you're FIRIN YUR LAZOR.
So if you have inside information about the exact times that the aperture will be open, the exact angle it will be photographing at, precisely what trajectory it's on and where it's going (this one's actually easy, most space objects are tracked rather precisely and publicly), then maybe... MAYBE, IF YOU CAN TRACK IT, you'll get off a zap or two.
And even then it would only work as long as the internal filters aren't designed to block common laser wavelengths. They're probably not, because everything else is so astonishingly stupid that it's not going to happen.
Honey, the REAL answer is such tech ALREADY EXISTS! Your cynical snark doesn't make you smart or right. It just makes you one ignorant fellow. I'm not even going to bother answering you, because you aren't here for answers. You are here to insult, annoy and pick a fight with strangers. Go look for it elsewhere.
I do astrophotography, dingus. I'm well aware such mounts exist. I'm also aware of NASA's history of shooting lasers at the moon to track changes in its distance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiments
Have a look at that table. See all those specific wavelengths? If your dumbass idea is even remotely feasible then every single photographic satellite in orbit will ABSOLUTELY have filters that will carve out those narrow bands and others that could be realistically used to damage a camera. Lasers operate at specific wavelengths.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laser_types
I do, however, doubt that any satellite has this type of filtration because this idea is inherently stupid. Say you do somehow manage this. Guess what? You've put a few pixels out of commission. What happens then? It's pretty fuckin' simple. The satellite moves slightly and another picture gets taken with the obscured area now in view.
Because that's how satellite imaging works.
If you laser is powerful, accurate, and fast tracking enough to destroy an entire imaging sensor from 400km away you're better off just using it to ransom passing aircraft.
Which is just as stupid.
If that's is the case, how do you explain this?