Not hitting other satellites is actually a service that the US Gov already provides if you are pointing large lasers in the sky (see the laser clearinghouse). T

Not hitting other satellites is actually a service that the US Gov already provides if you are pointing large lasers in the sky (see the laser clearinghouse). They give a the laser operator a set of windows in which they will not hit a sat if they turned the laser on. The bigger challenge is while microwave emitters are cheaper, the beam director becomes quite expensive as it has to be massive (thanks to diffraction). Even with lasers, your final optics need to be big, but still easy enough to move at orbital velocities (think something like what telescopes used to track regular rocket launches use). What the article didn't mention, is you will need 2 ground power sites. The first one applies most of the energy needed to get into orbit, and the second site, located over the horizon from first, circularizes/finalizes the orbit. This makes site selection much harder as you need to find 2 places that are not too close, yet not too far, both with little weather to get in the way. Disclaimer: I'm involved with a company that does laser power transmission/laser rocket research