The Russians are building a laser that blinds satellites - an expert explains the technology

If the Russian government is able to build the laser, it will be able to protect a large part of the country from observation by satellites with optical sensors. The technology also paves the way for the more threatening possibility of laser weapons that can permanently disable satellites

By Ian Boyd Professor of Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder

Russia is building a new ground laser facility to interfere with satellites flying above it, according to a report recently published inThe Space Review. The basic idea would be to dazzle the optical sensors of other countries' spy satellites by flooding them with laser light.

Laser technology has advanced to the point where this type of defense against satellites is conceivable, although there is limited evidence that countries have been able to successfully test such a laser.

If the Russian government is able to build the laser, it will be able to protect a large part of the country from observation by satellites with optical sensors. The technology also paves the way for the more threatening possibility of laser weapons that can permanently disable satellites.

How lasers work

A laser is a device for creating a narrow beam of directed energy. The first laser was developed in 1960, and since then several types have been created that use different physical mechanisms to create photons, or particles of light.

Gas lasers deliver large amounts of energy to specific molecules such as carbon dioxide. Chemical lasers are powered by specific chemical reactions that release energy. Solid-state lasers use crystalline materials specifically adapted to convert electrical energy into photons. In all lasers, the photons are then amplified by passing them through a special type of material called a gain medium and then focused into a coherent beam by a beam director.

Depending on the intensity of the photon determined by the wavelength, the directed energy beam created by a laser can create a range of effects on its target. For example, if the photons are in the visible part of the spectrum, a laser can beam light towards its target.

Given a high enough flow of high-energy photons, a laser can heat, vaporize, melt, and even burn the material of its target. The ability to provide these effects is determined by the laser's power level, the distance between the laser and its target and the ability to focus the beam on the target.

Laser applications

The various effects created by lasers find widespread applications in everyday life, including laser pointers, printers, DVD players, retinal surgery and other medical procedures, and industrial manufacturing processes such as welding and laser cutting. Researchers are developing lasers as an alternative to radio wave technology to increase communication between spacecraft and the ground.

Lasers are also widely used in military operations. One of the best known is the airborne laser (ABL), which the US military intended to use to intercept ballistic missiles. ABL involved a very large, high-power laser mounted on a Boeing 747. The program was eventually abandoned due to the challenges associated with thermal management and maintenance of its chemical laser.

A more successful military application is the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, which is used to protect aircraft from heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles. LAIRCM shines light from a solid-state laser into the missile's sensor as it approaches the aircraft, causing the weapon to dazzle and lose the ability to track its target.

The evolving performance of solid-state lasers has led to a proliferation of new military applications. The US military installs lasers on Army trucks and Navy ships to defend against small targets such as drones, mortar bombs and other threats. The Air Force is investigating the use of lasers in aircraft for defensive and offensive purposes.

The Russian laser

The new Russian laser facility is called Kalina. It is designed to dazzle, and therefore temporarily blind, the optical sensors of satellites that collect intelligence from above. As with the American LAIRCM, the blinding involves saturating the sensors with strong light to prevent them from functioning. Achieving this goal requires accurate transfer of a sufficient amount of light into the satellite sensor. This is no easy feat considering the very large distances involved and the fact that the laser beam must first pass through the Earth's atmosphere.

Precise pointing of lasers over long distances into space is not new. For example, NASA's Apollo 15 mission in 1971 placed meter-sized reflectors on the Moon, to which lasers on Earth are directed to provide information on its exact position and thus also on the rate of movement of the Moon away from Earth. Supplying enough photons over large distances is reflected in the laser power and its optical system.

According to the reports, the Kalina laser device operates in infrared pulse mode and produces approximately 1,000 joules per square centimeter. For comparison, a pulsed laser used for retinal surgery has a power of only about 1/10,000. Kalina delivers a large portion of the photons it produces to the great distances where satellites orbit it. It is able to do this because lasers create highly collimated beams, meaning the photons travel in parallel so the beam does not spread out. Kalina focuses his beam using a telescope with a diameter of several meters.

Spy satellites that use optical sensors tend to operate in low Earth orbit at an altitude of several hundred kilometers. These satellites usually take a few minutes to pass over any specific point on Earth. This requires a cell to be able to operate continuously for such a long time while maintaining a constant trajectory in front of the optical sensor. These functions are performed by the telescope system.

Based on the telescope's reported details, Kalina will be able to blind satellites hundreds of kilometers from their orbits. This will make it possible to protect a very large area - on the order of 40,000 square miles (about 100,000 square kilometers) - from intelligence gathering by optical sensors on satellites. Forty thousand square miles is about the area of ​​the state of Kentucky.

Russia claims that in 2019 it deployed a less capable laser dazzle system on a truck called Peresvet. However, there is no confirmation that it has been used successfully.

It is likely that laser power levels will continue to rise, allowing the transient effect of blinding to go beyond permanent damage to the imaging severity of the sensors. While the development of laser technology is moving in this direction, there are important policy considerations associated with using lasers in this way. Permanent destruction of a sensor in space by any country can be considered an act of aggression, leading to a rapid escalation of tensions.

Lasers in space

An even greater concern is the potential deployment of laser weapons in space. Such systems would be very effective because the distances to the targets are expected to be significantly reduced, and there is no atmosphere to weaken the beam. The power levels needed for space-based lasers to cause significant damage to spacecraft are significantly less compared to ground-based systems.

In addition, lasers in space can be used to attack any satellite by aiming lasers at the propulsion tanks and power systems, which, if hit, will completely disable the spacecraft.

As technology advances, the use of laser weapons in space becomes more feasible. And then the question arises: what are the consequences?

For an article in The Conversation

Editor's note: In this context, we should of course mention the Magen Or laser system, which should be installed on the Iron Dome systems and complete it. This system is an incarnation of the Nautilus system From the first decade of the 20th century that competed in those days with the Iron Dome missile system.

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