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If Russia uses this to disable another country's satellite passing overhead, is that an act of war, worthy of retaliation? What about if that other country, in
by the_biot 4y ago
If Russia uses this to disable another country's satellite passing overhead, is that an act of war, worthy of retaliation? What about if that other country, in retaliation, uses similar technology in a satellite to destroy this Kalina installation?
- jjtheblunt 4y agoway down in the article they mention that it's unclear if it's meant for (or capable of) "dazzling" or "blinding". Dazzling means saturating the sensors so they can't see during saturation, but blinding means burning the sensors so they're broken. I suppose the answer depends on whether lasting damage is done.
- nradov 4y agoThere is no similar technology which would allow such a powerful laser in a satellite. While it's possible in theory, for now it's science fiction. No launch vehicle has enough capacity to lift the necessary power generation.
- beecafe 4y agoYou could build a solar pumped laser that uses sunlight shining onto iodine to directly make very intense laser light.
- nradov 4y agoAnd how much mass would that take, to produce enough output power to damage a ground station? I don't think you've done the math...
- beecafe 4y agoGeoffrey A. Landis, "Prospects for Solar Pumped Semiconductor Lasers," Paper SPIE 2121-09, Laser Power Beaming, SPIE Proceedings Volume 2121, pp. 58-65, January 27–28, 1994
- nradov 4y agoRight so as I said, it's possible in principle but would require technology which doesn't really exist yet.
- dmitrygr 4y agoNo and yes respectively
- oneoff786 4y agoHow could you possibly reason that?
- zardo 4y agoOne is ruining a photo, the other is destroying equipment.
- oneoff786 4y agoThey did say “destroy” but they also said “with similar equipment”. So presumably it’s just the same disabling effect on my read of it. We don’t have orbital weapons
- dmitrygr 4y agoThe line is drawn at damaging equipment. This is just jamming. Radio jamming isn’t an act of war. Doing it in the visible spectrum doesn’t magically make it one.
- oneoff786 4y agoThat’s a pretty arbitrary line. Would you rather russia blow up a car or disable all American satellites? Hyperbole for sure but the distinction is important. Jamming can easily be an act of war depending on scale.
- dmitrygr 4y agoThat is the currently accepted definition in politics today. All lines are arbitrary there. But that is where it's been drawn.
- hey2022 4y agoWhile not necessarily an act of war, it’s definitely an escalation. As is common with escalations it all depends on who/how/what/why and effective diplomacy. Eg launching a missile is far more aggressive than hacking and destroying Kalina remotely.