the Expected capacity of the device to 50,000 watts, and its rate - 50 thousand pulses per second.

the international space station (ISS) can get a laser gun, reports Space.com. The weapons will be used for clearing the orbit of debris.



By calculations of experts of NASA, in earth orbit has accumulated about 3 thousand tons of space debris that poses a threat not just for satellites, but also for the ISS.

in order to secure the station, scientists propose to use fiber-optic laser system that will split the waste into small pieces and move them to burn in dense layers of the atmosphere.

the Basis for this installation will be a modified version of the EUSO telescope, which was designed to study cosmic radiation. The estimated capacity of the device to 50,000 watts, and its rate – 50 thousand pulses per second. Experts believe that this unit will be able to clear a 500-kilometer area around the ISS for 50 months.

EUSO Telescope Photo: RIKEN

Initially, the station will be installed an experimental version of the laser cannon, with a capacity of 10 watt and rate of fire of 100 rounds per minute.

Although the project is only at the stage of consideration, NASA employees are optimistic and expect that the plant will be installed on the ISS in 2017 or 2018.

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