[ExI] Spacecraft (was MM)

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Samantha Atkins
...

>...One nice thing about these big laser beams to orbit is they could
accidentally or on purpose de-orbit a lot of space junk that has accumulated
there.  :)

I don't follow you there.  Suppose you hit a dead satellite with a laser.
Now you may cause some pieces to break off, but that doesn't actually
deorbit anything.

>...  Hmmm.  Perhaps a decent feasibility test is to do some such target
shooting...

We have the control systems adequate to do this now.  But it isn't clear to
me what would be accomplished, other than create a huge mess of orbiting
debris.

>... Of course there would me a major international uproar over such...

Ja I can imagine that.  We currently have a big problem with our LEO
satellites gradually losing power from solar panels getting pitted by 10 to
100 micron class debris.  Shooting dead satellites with a laser would make
that problem waaay worse I fear, and the US has more to lose than anyone.

spike