I have a proposal for a solar powered space based laser to be implemented as part of the missile defense system. Currently there is talk of lasers in the 100 kilowatt range capable of frying missiles.
If such a missile shoots a laser for a duration of 30 seconds lets say (more than enough time for a successful destruction) it will consume approximately 3 million Joules of energy. Or the euqivalent of a 3 Megawatt laser shined for one second. So to be safe I would say a typical space based laser would need to be on the order of 10 to 100 Megawatt capable, to ensure penetration of the earths atmosphere. Solar energy is radiated at 1300 Watts/sq meter. If we need 100 megawatts, we would require a mirror of 77,000 square meters, but this is under perfect energy conversion. Lets assume that we have a 10 percent efficieny of conversion then we would require 770,000 square meters of solar panels. This is about a half mile, by half mile square of paneling. While the costs of such a system would be enormous. It might pay off in the long run. I myself would generally like the use of nuclear powered space based lasers, but with current politics, we might not get that, damn liberals(they say launching nuclear materials into space could malfuntion and fall back to earth). With a few of these systems in space imagine the capabilities. We could shoot out a missile right on an enemys on home land before it ever reached the US.
A myriad of these in orbit encircling the globe would give other countries like NOrth Korea a momenet to think twice.

I like the idea as well. Anything to deter long range missiles capable of bearing nuclear warheads.

why not just destroy ALL nukes not just your enemies

Because nuclear weapons are necessary to exist but not necessary to use. They exist for a reason and will continue to do so indefinetely. I am not talking about the politics about the existence of nukes, but rather US defenses against rogue states such as North Korea.

nukes do not serve a purpose , they are there to make sure no one wins. simple.
also these rogue nations BTW are actually sovering countries, you call them rogue because they dont cooperate with you.

Space based lasers can be destroyed by ground based lasers and are too expensive. It's not good if enemy is able to destroy your billion $ satelite before attack, don't you think? With such big solar panels they are great target.
In my opinion the better solution would be something like ABL but bigger, more powerfull and PLACED ON BIG AIRSHIP. Just think about it, such airship is cheap(+/- 50 mil.$ without laser and sensors) has speed 100km/hour and IS ABLE TO HOOVER OVER AREA FOR DAYS without consuming fuel. It can also have smaller 100kw lasers developed for JSF to defend itself.
ABL mounted on Boeing 747 is also good but it requires lot of fuel when flying(so it's expensive to guard the region) and has problem with turbulences. Airship based ABL has none of this problems and is much cheaper both to procure and operate. It is also more versatile than space based laser - it can destroy not only balistic misilles, but also planes, and cruise misilles. Just imagine such airship with 850km range laser (747 ABL has 450km), place 2-4 of them around North Korea(only 500 mil.$ each) and you are safe.

[edit on 12-11-2004 by longbow]