The technology also sets the stage for the more ominous possibility of laser weapons that can permanently disable satellites.
How lasers work
A laser is a gadget for creating a narrow beam of directed energy.
Gas lasers pump large amounts of energy into specific molecules such as carbon dioxide.
Chemical lasers are powered by specific chemical reactions that release energy.
Solid-state lasers use customized crystalline materials to convert electrical energy into photons.
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The physics of lasers explained.
Researchers are developing lasers as an alternative to radio wave technology toboost communications between spacecraft and the ground.
Lasers also find widespread software in military operations.
ABL involved a very large, high-power laser mounted on a Boeing 747.
The program was ultimately doomed by the challenges associated with the thermal management and maintenance of its chemical laser.
The evolving performance of solid-state lasers has led to a proliferation of new military applications.
The Air Force is studying the use of lasers on aircraft for defensive and offensive purposes.
The Russian laser
The reputed new Russian laser facility is called Kalina.
As with the U.S. LAIRCM, dazzling involves saturating the sensors with enough light to prevent them from functioning.
Achieving this goal requires accurately delivering a sufficient amount of light into the satellite sensor.
Accurately pointing lasers over large distances intospaceis not new.
Delivering enough photons over large distances comes down to the laser power level and its optical system.
Kalina reportedly operates in a pulsed mode in the infrared and produces about 1,000 joules per square centimeter.
By comparison, a pulsed laser used for retinal surgery is only about 1/10,000th as powerful.
Kalina delivers a large fraction of the photons it generates across the large distances where satellites orbit overhead.
Kalina focuses its beam using a telescope that has a diameter of several meters.
Spy satellites using optical sensors tend to operate in low-Earth orbit with an altitude of a few hundred kilometers.
It generally takes these satellites a few minutes to pass over any specific point on the Earths surface.
These functions are carried out by the telescope system.
Forty thousand square miles is roughly the area of the state of Kentucky.
Russia claims that in 2019 it fielded a less capable truck-mounted laser dazzling system calledPeresvet.
However, there is no confirmation that it has been used successfully.
Lasers in space
Of even greater concern is the potential deployment of laser weapons in space.
As technology advances continue, the use of laser weapons in space becomes more likely.
The question then becomes: What are the consequences?
