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 Space-based laser applications seem to be popping up
all over. They could redirect
an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, for example, say MIT and
University of Alabama researchers. In the vacuum of space, femtosecond pulses
from a laser aimed at the asteroid could transfer sufficient energy to slow the
object so that it crosses the Earth's orbit after the planet has passed by.
Elsewhere, NASA estimates that some 19,000 objects larger than 10 cm diameter
currently orbit the earth, putting both satellites and manned spacecraft in
increasing danger. Fear not; Australian researchers are developing a laser
system to nudge
space junk back into the Earth's atmosphere where it can burn up. Speaking
of NASA, the agency just awarded a contract to ITT to validate the feasibility
of laser
communication from Earth to deep space.
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Re: Lasers Head for Space
