Hello!
I have read a ton of posts and appreciate the excellent content here! I see mostly questions/comments about ground-based lasers but am curious about space applications.
what would be the best low divergence laser that you could use in space that would reach the furthest? IE if you were to have an astronaut point a laser (or have one mounted to the ISS) what would be the furthest it could be seen by an observer at the other end? Some constraints
a) Let's say max power input would be around 20W
b) Let's say laser was utilized for morse code (so can't be too spread out or would not see the blink on/off)
c) Laser has to be commercially available
d) laser can be coupled with additional gear / accessories as long as they are commercially available
Thanks!
I have read a ton of posts and appreciate the excellent content here! I see mostly questions/comments about ground-based lasers but am curious about space applications.
what would be the best low divergence laser that you could use in space that would reach the furthest? IE if you were to have an astronaut point a laser (or have one mounted to the ISS) what would be the furthest it could be seen by an observer at the other end? Some constraints
a) Let's say max power input would be around 20W
b) Let's say laser was utilized for morse code (so can't be too spread out or would not see the blink on/off)
c) Laser has to be commercially available
d) laser can be coupled with additional gear / accessories as long as they are commercially available
Thanks!
