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I am a self-proclaimed 'newbie' when it comes to understanding energy, astronomy, and physics in general, but I have a few questions and any answers or opinions
by LockandByte 10y ago
I am a self-proclaimed 'newbie' when it comes to understanding energy, astronomy, and physics in general, but I have a few questions and any answers or opinions would be appreciated:
1.) Why in the world does the 'Light / Laser Beamer' need to be physically located on earth? Why not in space?
2.) Is building 'check-points' for both data and power atop the planets not a possibility? (Solar, chemical, etc).
- drabiega 10y agoAs for #1 it's just a matter of logistics. It would actually be a little easier to do from space because you don't have to worry about the effects of the atmosphere, but it would be a pretty massive piece of infrastructure and it's likely that within this time frame it would be vastly simpler and cheaper to build it on earth.
- Zikes 10y agoFor a laser of the proposed magnitude surely a little bit of air isn't going to make a significant difference. From what I can gather the thing would be classified as a WMD and capable of carving a smiley face on Pluto.
- david-given 10y agoHeat air up enough and it turns into plasma. Plasma's opaque. That's going to do terrible things to your beam focus. I remember hearing that this is a problem with high-energy laser weaponry, which is why it tends to be pulsed, to give the hot air time to dissipate. But I can't find a reference now.
- civilian 10y agoFor #2: What do you mean by check points? Which planets would you build the checkpoints at? When you say "atop", do you mean on the planet's surface, or in a polar orbit, or in orbit generally?