(August 25, 2016 at 9:47 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: The military utility of such a laser on earth is awesome to contemplate . . .
A laser suitable for interstellar propulsion would be characterized more by very high sustained power output rather than truly enormous instantaneous power output. Sustained power output implies enormous power sources, such as many nuclear power plants or a truly huge photovoltaic farm. So I am not sure a laser tethered to such power sources would be militarily useful, since the power source itself is easily neutralized.
Lasers with truly enormous instantaneous power outputs by capable of extremely short burst durations we already have.
