Lasers and Prospecting
- Thread starter plop101
- Start date
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
The way I understand it is that pulse laser would allow the debris from the first pulse to get out of the way before the next pulse arrives.
With a beam laser you'd be shooting through the dust and debris, thus reducing the efficiency of your beam.
With a beam laser you'd be shooting through the dust and debris, thus reducing the efficiency of your beam.
Jeff M. Hopper
SOC-14 1K
I don't think an explanation was ever really given...
"With a beam laser you'd be shooting through the dust and debris, thus reducing the efficiency of your beam."
One wonders then, why they'd use beam lasers as weapons as the above argument would hold in combat as well.
IMTU all lasers are pulse lasers, beamlasers are leftovers from the little black books.
http://www.mines.edu/laser/FAQ.htm
One wonders then, why they'd use beam lasers as weapons as the above argument would hold in combat as well.
IMTU all lasers are pulse lasers, beamlasers are leftovers from the little black books.
http://www.mines.edu/laser/FAQ.htm
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Well, IMTU, Beam Lasers fire in pulses. The difference is Beam Lasers fire long pulses that are used to sweep the target area in an attempt to increase the chances of a hit at a sacrifice of time on target. So you have less damage but better odds of hitting. Pulse Lasers pump the same energy into shorter pulses and hope to do more damage. They trade probability of hitting for higher damage if they do hit. Neither one needs to worry too much about dust and debris and boil off. Beam Lasers make slashes, Pulse Lasers make holes. Beam Lasers are shorter ranged mostly defensive weapons, Pulse Lasers are longer ranged mostly offensive weapons.
The one place it does need to be figured is in asteroid mining which I think lasers are a poor choice for. You want fusion for tunnelling if you take the books as canon (fusion tunnelling of asteroids for ship hulls) though I can see a laser being useful for causing expolosions and fractures in something that is frozen in deep space. Then the Belter just has to collect the drifting chunks of small ore in their hold (a tractor beam would be the way the big ships do it, the smaller ones will have to do it the old fashioned way). Anyway, mtu, ymmv, have fun how you like it to work
The one place it does need to be figured is in asteroid mining which I think lasers are a poor choice for. You want fusion for tunnelling if you take the books as canon (fusion tunnelling of asteroids for ship hulls) though I can see a laser being useful for causing expolosions and fractures in something that is frozen in deep space. Then the Belter just has to collect the drifting chunks of small ore in their hold (a tractor beam would be the way the big ships do it, the smaller ones will have to do it the old fashioned way). Anyway, mtu, ymmv, have fun how you like it to work
