From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Sun Jan 19 2003 - 12:00:59 MST
Gary Miller wrote:
> A laser from a satellite is much preferable for several reasons.
Not that I think either item is a clear winner for the purpose, but I will say that
iron gets to its target, rain or shine. You might even be able to make one of those
Thor crowbars use laser target designation once it's low enough.
Reasons even orbital lasers are crummy:
-Tents. Cloudy days. Speeches delivered indoors under much concrete.
Speeches delivered from ablative kiosks.
-The big reason--just like Thor, _they're in orbit_.
-Extremely expensive to keep functional/resupply on-orbit (excimer chemicals).
-Predictable times when the satellite is in line-of-sight, especially if you
want an _overhead_ shot (say, 20 degrees or less off vertical).
Oh. You wanted a constellation of hundreds of such satellites? Good for you!
-Very hard to use well or accurately at glancing angles (say, > 45 degrees off
vertical).
I don't think Saddam has made any outdoor speeches in *quite* a while.
It seems he's aware that much cheaper assassination attempts might succeed.
Gosh darn him, anyway.
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