Re: Further thoughts on hitting with lasers
From: Jonathan Jarrard <jjarrard@f...>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 09:42:04 -0500
Subject: Re: Further thoughts on hitting with lasers
Roger Burton West wrote:
> >
> Best bet is to compare the transit time of the beam (0.03 seconds for
> 6,000 miles, for example) with the velocity change the ship can manage
> in that time (0.005 m/s if it has 1G acceleration).
>
> It's still the case that, normally, if you can target it you can hit
it.
> The beam transit time only becomes significant enough to prevent a hit
> at much longer distances (or higher accelerations).
Are you guys taking into account the transit time from the target to
your sensors in your overall on-target timing calculation? That should
at least double the response time, even assuming that target processing
is instantaneous.