Russia is building a new ground-based laser facility to interfere with satellites orbiting over its territory. Its main purpose is to dazzle the optical sensors of other countries' spy satellites by flooding them with laser beams.
Quoted from The Space Review, laser technology has progressed to the point where this type of anti-satellite defense makes sense. However, there is limited evidence in which countries have successfully tested such lasers.
If the Russian government is able to build a laser, it will be able to protect most of its country from satellite view with optical sensors. This technology also provides for the possibility of using laser weapons that can permanently disable satellites.
How lasers work
A laser is a device for creating a narrow, directed beam of energy. The first lasers were developed in the 1960s, and since then, there have been several types of lasers made using different physical mechanisms to produce photons, or light particles.
Gas lasers pump large amounts of energy into certain molecules such as carbon dioxide. Chemical lasers are powered by specific chemical reactions that release energy.
Solid-state lasers use a special crystalline material to convert electrical energy into photons. In all lasers, the photons are then amplified by passing them through a special type of material called an amplification medium, then being focused into a coherent beam.
Laser effect
Depending on the intensity and wavelength of the photon, the directional beam of energy created by the laser can create various effects on its target. For example, if a photon is in the visible part of the spectrum, a laser can send light to its target.
For a sufficiently high flow of high-energy photons, the laser can heat, vaporize, melt, and even burn the target material. The ability to exert this effect is determined by the power level of the laser, the distance between the laser and its target, and the ability to focus the beam on the target.
Laser app
The various effects produced by lasers can be widely applied in everyday life, including the simplest and often we see exist as laser pointers, in printers, DVD players, to medical surgical procedures and industrial manufacturing processes such as welding and laser cutting.
Researchers are developing lasers as an alternative to radio wave technology to improve communications between spacecraft and Earth.
Lasers are also widely applied in military operations. One of the most famous is the Airborne Laser (ABL), which the US military uses to shoot down ballistic missiles.
ABL involved a very large, high-power laser mounted on a Boeing 747. The program ultimately failed due to challenges associated with the thermal management and maintenance of its chemical laser.
A more successful military application is the Large Aircraft Infrared Counter Measures (LAIRCM) system used to protect aircraft from heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles. The LAIRCM shines light from a solid-state laser onto the missile's sensors as it approaches the aircraft, causing the weapon to glare and lose track of its target.
The US military mounts lasers on Army trucks and Navy ships to defend against small targets such as drones, mortars, and other threats. Currently, the US Air Force is studying the use of lasers on aircraft for both defensive and offensive purposes.
Russian lasers
The famous new Russian laser facility is called Kalina. This facility was built to "blind" satellite optical sensors that collect intelligence data over the country's territory.
The Kalina operates in pulsed infrared mode and produces about 1,000 joules per square centimeter. The facility sends most of the photons it produces across the great distances over which the satellite orbits over Russia.
This is possible because the laser forms a highly collimated beam, which means the photons move in parallel so the light doesn't scatter. Kalina focused her beam using a telescope that was several meters in diameter.
Lasers in space
The most worrying thing about laser developments is perhaps the potential deployment of laser weapons in space. Such a system would be very effective because the distance to the target would likely be significantly reduced, and there would be no atmosphere to weaken the beam.
The power level required for space-based lasers to cause significant damage to spacecraft will be significantly reduced compared to ground-based systems.
In addition, space-based lasers can be used to target any satellite by aiming the laser at the propellant tank and power system, which, if damaged, will completely immobilize the spacecraft. As technology advances, the use of laser weapons in space is becoming more and more possible.