COULD SATELLITE LASERS REALLY DO THIS?...

Today we go over the fires in Maui and what could have caused them.

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[devjock]

CNC Fiber laser cutter operator here (LVD Phoenix, 12KW IPG laser source). I've personally witnessed the setup I'm working with, be able to cut 30mm stainless steel and Aluminium (highly reflective and pretty 'abrasive' to the head's built in safety windows). It's crazy what these things can do.

Every material has it's own sweetspot for efficient cutting. Sometimes there's a trade-off between speed and cutting quality (edge squareness, burrs forming on the underside of the parts, color change due to metal overheating, etc etc), but most materials can be cut quite nicely without losing too much quality. It's an art to cut parts with a nice accurate, sharp, glassy looking side, and me and my fellow lasergods take pride in delivering the shiny.

One of the things fiber setups can do that traditional CO2 lasers can't is store energy and release it as a massive but short blast. We use it to strike a hole right through metal, after which we switch back to "normal laser cutting" and spiral down the side of the "Strike hole" to enlarge the hole enough for sufficient amounts of "helper gas" to be able to blow through the plate (in our case either Oxygen or Nitrogen). After sufficient gasflow is achieved, we re-engage the laser and follow the cutpath while maintaining a set gaspressure. Laser does the melty bit, helper-gas does the material removal bit.

In a process similar to what the LHC does with particles, these laser sources can cycle photons inside a fiberloop and add on to them almost infinitely, and at a set time, they do a switchover into the cutting head, releasing all those coherent photons into the metal, instantly vaporising it, after which the helper gas can blow away the metal plasma (yes, it's turning the metal into a plasma). Some motion systems and head leveling sensors do the job of maintaining a set height above (and a set x, y position on) the plate to be cut, and the rest is just G-code. Most of the time, all you need is basic knowledge of how to draw a shape in Inkscape, and you can cut it on the machine.

Tldr; These laser sources may be advertised as having an output capacity of 12KW, but they can do MUCH MUCH more than that, for small fractions of a second at a time. And most of the time, all you need is a short blast to "clear a path".

[superdupergrover]

This is the only guy who can say "Today, we're going to do a deep dive into directed energy weapons" casually, who isn't a aerospace or weapons youtuber **and** I just take the statement at face value. This is entirely expected and the only weird thing about it is that it isn't weird.

[bobstovall]

Not only do you continue to improve your delivery, you look as though you really do enjoy it more with each new release.

[jceddy]

A nice follow-up would be to investigate if/how these lasers can be detected as well as if it's possible to defend against.

[markedis]

I worked on satellite systems in the past. When you’re designing your system be aware of the temperature differences between day and night at 400km then look at the thermal expansion characteristics of the different components. Things that are fine on the ground could rip themselves apart at 400km. Also consider operating temperatures of batteries and other components.

[hakasays]

So rare to see a level-headed engineering analysis of these hot topics. Thanks for the valuable contribution

[jonyp]

Sir, i dont remember seeing such clear easy to follow and high level lecture anywhere. Your students may consider themselves VERY LUCKY

[ClockworkAvatar]

this is the kind of thing that seems so trivial to actually accomplish with a military budget that it's pretty safe to assume that they've done it at some point.

[Bluelagoonstudios]

I used to work in a dance club with a water cooled argon laser from 20w, and because you can't cut off electricity suddenly from the laser tube, because these lasers has to cool down slowly, we had the possibility to redirect the beam outside. The green beam was visible for kilometers, without dispersing a lot. We used dichroic mirrors to achieve this. One time the beam was off and had to be recalibrated, but in place of shining on the dichroic mirror, it shined on the door jamb nearby, and burned a serious hole. So there was a fire hazard with this thing. That's why we had to check, every hour, the very big power supply, the water cooling and the laser itself. This was also a multicolor club laser. So if you see what a 20w laser can do, what about a 20Kw laser? Mind-boggling.

[freefallpilot]

I just want to say that your manner of speaking and writing is superb. You are always clear, concise, precise, and brief. For what it’s worth, I consider you one of the finest science educators I’ve encountered. Your teaching style is especially interesting and effective for me and I very much look forward to new videos!

I’ve been watching your videos for some time now and I’m still so impressed with the breadth and depth of your knowledge. Truly appreciate the time and care you put into your content and channel. 🚀

[MorRobots]

The No. 1 Challenge with a satellite is not distance. It's HEAT. The ISS has massive radiators just to deal with the heat produced by the power/environmental systems. As a frame of reference, the ISS has a peak power usage of 90 kW, with a peak production of 120 kW. When the USAF tested out the YAL-1 Airborne Laser the biggest challenge holding it back was managing the waste heat it produced. Getting rid of heat in space is very difficult and involves tradeoffs such as expelling coolant (a consumable), or having large radiators.

DE systems produce an insane amount of wasted heat, even chemical lasers like COIL have these challenges. (Also you would want to avoid using a consumable laser system on a satellite)

Just something to keep in mind when talking about satellite based Directed energy systems.

[matthewrobinson]

I have always appreciated educators who don't hand hold but understand and communicate well enough to explain intricate concepts for us lay folks with a willingness to learn.

It may take rewatching several times for your videos to fully soak in but they are always endlessly fascinating. Thank you.

[ekim]

You guys are an absolute internet treasure. Thanks for your work.

[JTamilio]

I saw a fascinating documentary about this in 1985 where a young college student was able to beam a laser from low earth orbit to cook a bunch of popcorn. That prodigy later became the top naval aviator in his class and eventually a navy admiral.

[Nickscassera]

You make tech and science so easy to digest, the first 12 seconds actually scared me a little bit.

[armageddonready]

A fellow marine told me that in the middle of the night during the war in Afghanistan, there was a flash of light for a few minutes, in the next valley.
The next day that valley had an tarmac runway in it that upon further investigation turned out to be obsidian melted stone.
I called BS at the time, and have heard nothing about it from anyone else. The more I learn though, the more I think he may not have been insane.

[ismaelcoronajr]

I have to admit. Im truly shocked you went full in on this. I commend your scientific research, and absolutely love your videos.
True scientists ask the questions, most dont want the answers too.
My own twist on a quote from Claude Levi-Strauss

[revtmyers]

I'm always amazed at the diversity of information provided through this channel and its quality.

[karatos]

Great video. I am a weapons designer from a family of fire fighters, so I have been getting hit up for my opinion on this every which way since the rumors started. My response was pretty simple. The obvious retort is there is no reason to do it. Plenty of fires start with arson, why use a laser from space when a flick of the bic gets it done even better. Second, on the blue objects, there are lots of objects which were not burned that were not blue, and some objects that were burned that were blue, and many pictures shown as supposed evidence were not even from this incident, or even this state, so there is no reason to believe the color blue had anything to do with it. Finally, any energy weapon powerful enough to melt in the white aluminum from space could easily melt anything blue, no matter the color of the laser, and it is absolutely going to burn up the black asphalt the aluminum is resting on way before that, and in the pictures with cars melted the road is basically fine every time. I had not done the math on how small the beam actually could be, so I guess it is maybe possible with .5m diameter they directed the beam on just the car and not on the road and kept it stable and melted one car at a time in bursts of a few minutes or even seconds at a time, but it would be virtually impossible to track such targets from space, and again it is entirely pointless since cars already burn and would be expected to catch from this kind of fire, which, again, could be started much easier with a disposable lighter.

[jimparrUtube]

Thank you for the lay view and very detailed demonstrations supportive of your perspective.
Much appreciated Sir.
Your lab videos are also always interesting when I trip over them.