4 ms·
High powered lasers on an aircraft carrier work because it has a nuclear power plant onboard. How will you launch a nuclear power plant into space? Note that t
by est31 6y ago
High powered lasers on an aircraft carrier work because it has a nuclear power plant onboard. How will you launch a nuclear power plant into space?
Note that the response to star wars contributed to the Soviet Union's bankruptcy :).
- Enginerrrd 6y agoDepends on duty cycle. It may only need enough power for a couple of big bursts. Chemical lasers might work quite well here if you can address temperature fluctuation issues. The power output can be sufficiently massive with a relatively compact storage of that power. The downside is just that they can't be easily recharged.
- ClumsyPilot 6y agoSoviet union had nuclear powered radar sattelites for reconnaissance, with a real reactor onboard, not RTG. it's definately doable. But the whole point of a laser is that you don't need to put it in space, it could be a large facility on the ground. Main considerations are political impact, not technical feasability. As for Soviet bancrupcy, impact of Chernobyl was definately much larger than space program shenanigans.