[ExI] Power sats as weapons

[John Clark]

On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:

>> we already have an excellent method for instantly vaporizing cities and
>> I don't see what additional advantage a laser would provide in
>> accomplishing that task. And a huge but delicate power satellite powering a
>> enormous laser in geosynchronous orbit would be a sitting duck for anybody
>> who didn't like it.
>>
>
> > I don't exactly see how.  Perhaps you could explain.  To me, trying to
> target a propulsion laser satellite is a bit like a rock fight between
> someone on the top and someone on the bottom of a well.
>

If military history has taught us anything its that fixed fortifications
don't work because the enemy always knows exactly where they are, and
lethal lasers run from huge power satellites have the additional
disadvantage of being delicate.  And if your new way of getting into space
is as cheap and works as well as you say it does (and if it doesn't then
there's no space laser in the first place) then the difference between the
top and bottom of a well becomes far less important. It would take months
for a space laser to deliver as much energy to a target as a H bomb could
do in less than a millionth of a second, so I just don't see the advantage
from a military perspective. And I can't picture a terrorist organization
like al-Qaeda launching a power satellite and a giant laser, but
unfortunately I can imagine them making a H-bomb, or at least a A-bomb.

  John K Clark
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