Maybe is paranoia..but..what's about satellites?

[Laserburns]

Of course i am not telling that anyone is going to "hit" a satellite with a laser beam, also because they are located ad an average height of 15k miles.

But...let's imagine that you, a few nights of the week, glare your 200mw greeny above the stars.. so, it goes up for 10/20 miles... and we all know what kind of location device a laserpointer beam can be....so maybe that's like telling to the MANY spy sats over there "HEY I'M HERE", so they (and the operators than drive their axis) can easily locate your area, your neighboorhood, you car, you house, you garden and also take lot of details and photos of your life..i mean, something that they could use somewhat later, if something goes wrong in your area, and, anyway, getting monitored but super very high power and V-High resolution devices, is never a good thing.

I mean... maybe this is just paranoid... but... there is not chance?

 

[aryntha]

In summary: A lot of people are paranoid about government mind control and snooping - but the fact of the matter is very few people are important or interesting enough for suits and politicians to give a damn. If you had a $10+ mil net worth, *maybe*.

"She's just not that into you."

 

[DrSid]

Hey just because you are paranoid it does not mean they are not following you.

 

[qumefox]

In summary: A lot of people are paranoid about government mind control and snooping - but the fact of the matter is very few people are important or interesting enough for suits and politicians to give a damn. If you had a $10+ mil net worth, *maybe*.

"She's just not that into you."

This is correct for the most part but I don't think money has a lot to do with it.. You could be flat broke and if you started gathering info on building explosives, counterfeiting, etc, I imagine it probably wouldn't take very long for various government agencies to take an interest in your daily activities. Though regardless.. I don't think pointing a laser up in the air quite qualifies as a red flag.. the 'eyes in the sky' have much more interesting things to be looking at.

 

[aryntha]

This is correct for the most part but I don't think money has a lot to do with it.. You could be flat broke and if you started gathering info on building explosives, counterfeiting, etc, I imagine it probably wouldn't take very long for various government agencies to take an interest in your daily activities. Though regardless.. I don't think pointing a laser up in the air quite qualifies as a red flag.. the 'eyes in the sky' have much more interesting things to be looking at.

Okay, well, yes, if you appear to be preparing for jihad -- sure. That's going to get you zoomed in on.

I've just met a handful of people who swear that Navy Seals have planted listening devices in their bed because they bought some ammo on eBay, make their own beer, and enjoy civil war re-enactments.

To that I have to say "don't flatter yourself". Bob Bobertson who lives at the end of a cul-de-sac who happens to have a stash of illegal fireworks and uses off-road diesel in his F250 likely isn't going have a command center at SPAWAR HQ with 75 glowing monitors in a dark room dedicated to him like he hopes.

 

[LSRFAQ]

Under certain circumstances and at certain power levels, DOD space co-ordination is required for laser shows. Usually for folks with Copper Vapor lasers or 40 watt systems. Some times for less.
It is not a well defined thing, but is part of the process some times to get a letter of no objection from the FAA.

Steve

 

[LSRFAQ]

Also, if you ever fly over the US, you can see that it just glows at night. 200 mW would be a drop in the bucket compared to the cumulative glare of sodium streetlights.

Steve

 

[mod101]

Also, if you ever fly over the US, you can see that it just glows at night. 200 mW would be a drop in the bucket compared to the cumulative glare of sodium streetlights.

Steve

Yeah thats what I was thinking, At 15K as the OP said, I'm not sure lasers wouldn't be that bright and as tightly collimated as we see them

on a side note, has anyone ever seen a laser beam from an airplane (Not shining at the airplane, just in a general area)?

 

[qumefox]

I think aryntha has been lased in flight before, at least if i'm remembering the right thread.

 

[aryntha]

I have, yes, over downtown Denver. (Specifically, over a college campus.) Even after the beam has diverged, the green light is VERY bright.

This was a night flight, of course, so I was about 1.5 hours dark-adapted with my instruments very low.

The light came in from the lower right, two jittery "sweeps", following and tracking (albeit shakily) for 5-6 seconds each. It reflected back pretty singificantly in spots from the inside of the cockpit windows.

I wasn't in any danger of going blind, no, but I did have to look away and concentrate on the secondary instruments during both "passes". It absolutely screwed up my dark adaptation. It was not pleasant.

It was certainly a safety issue - especially in Class B where I was, where I had to pay close attention to TCAS, my heading, and separation.

This is part of why I get exhasperated at the "it's not a big deal" threads whenever it comes up. And yes, my cockpit windows were "on the top".

Before anyone jumps on me, I just have to state my usual disclaimer: it's pretty obvious that I don't want lasers to be banned.