Proposed Asteroid-Destroying Satellite Sounds An Awful Lot Like A Death Star

nice ^^ so gov demand about making a death star made some waves ^^
proves that any idea is a good idea

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No facts, No response...

Any weapon powerful enough put into space towards and asteroid could also be used upon a country on Earth.

The United Nations and other countries would not agree to this, I believe. Would the USA want China or Russia or some other country to have this kind of device in space; I doubt it.

So prior to making this techically possible, a lot of politics will have to be achieved.

So we destroy ourselves because the United Nations is worried will turn the thing on ourselves? Makes sense but the United Nations makes no sense at all--it should be disbanded as a total farce.

"including one about the size of the International Space Station, called DE-STAR 2, which could start to "nudge" an asteroid in a different direction. DE-STAR 4, at about 100 times the size of the ISS, could vaporize a 500-meter asteroid in a year... DE-STAR 6: Larger still..."

Wow. Can i have some of the incredible stuff these people are smoking. There fantasies are bigger then those in the worst science fiction movies. No government will pay for things 100+ Times the size of the ISS. Not even a death ray the same size of ISS as it would cost far more then the ISS considering their not anything like the mostly hollow tubes on the already 100 Billion ISS.

Not to mention we don`t even have shuttle`s anymore or that other nations would never trust each other with this and would simple send a satellite to collide with this death ray. Come up with something simpler and much cheaper. Like that idea of a spacecraft full of paint detonating miles before impact and spreading white paint across large parts of the asteroid which with extra reflection would push it of course over time.

I agree that anything in space approximately the size of the ISS is sure to be expensive. But making the comparison to the cost of the ISS isn't really fair considering the need for livable space and equipment within the ISS (the "human factor"). If the sensors, mirrors, etc. to be used on this laser array are affordably mass produced on the ground and modularly pieced together in space via a few heavy lift launches, the surface area they described should be pieced together relatively quickly (I would imagine). Certainly worth considering, since the intensity of the sun is that much greater in space, and the double benefit of safety and available energy for space travel is very tempting.

There's one tiny caveat that I can't seem to understand with proposals like this:

Since we have to get the satellite TO the meteor before we can even begin to do anything about it, the faster a meteor is traveling means we have to have discovered it with an exponential amount of time to spare.

This is really only feasible against meteors that will make several passes before colliding or are traveling VERY slowly.

Great idea, could be easy to direct water bearing meteorites towards mars. Who's really gonna mind smacking an atmosphere into a dead planet. Not to mention it would be easier to mine them on the surface there.

@ Greenmatrix; Actually, they would be using a basically empty tube to store their aligned and modulated beam, and their collector array, and focal emitters. The great thing about these types of systems is that you don't provide the the beam, the universe does. With existing equipment this can easily be mechanically done, and so becomes a purely political issue. Makes no difference what the politicos say in the long run though, because these systems are so basic that people WILL create and use them regardless.