5 ms·
Neither side will make a move without a decade of preparation, and every act during that decade needs to be judged against a common moral standard. Also we nee
by robotomir 10y ago
Neither side will make a move without a decade of preparation, and every act during that decade needs to be judged against a common moral standard.
Also we need orbital brooms, even second-class powers these days can trigger a Kessler syndrome. Several powerful laser installations, maybe on ships, will do fine.
- flukus 10y agoWe're pretty much at the point were private companies can trigger Kessler Syndrome.
- mzw_mzw 10y agoHmm, I've never heard that proposal before. Is anyone seriously investigating the use of ground-based lasers to clear orbiting debris? It's plausible that a powerful and well-controlled laser could damage large satellites, but could that be done carefully enough to safely deorbit them instead of breaking them apart? And would the lasers be capable of clearing smaller pieces of debris?
- germinalphrase 10y agoApparently, yes. [0] Lasers would not be used to destroy the debris. Instead, they would be used to burn off particles from the space debris causing them to prematurely de-orbit and burn up in the atmosphere. [0] www.space.com/29271-space-station-laser-cannon-orbital-debris.html
- mzw_mzw 10y agoThat's fantastic, thank you. Obviously the researchers are going to be optimistic about their own project but if it's even a tenth as good as they claim, this could genuinely solve the problem.