In message tatelephone
Pat Flannery wrote:

Rick Jones wrote:

As far as countermeasures to this system, the satellite could either
eject reflective decoys and hope the ASAT would home on one of
those, or shoot out some sort of gas or dust cloud that would get
between it and the ASAT (or between it and the laser) so the
reflected laser light couldn't be seen or is diffused enough so the
ASAT can't home on it.

A satellite surrounded by a cloud of dust isn't generally going to be
very useful will it?

After the intercept is thwarted, the satellite could fire its thrusters
to maneuver free of its dust cloud or decoys.

So on its first pass over an area of interest the satellite gets
illuminated by the targetting laser and ejects countermeasures. No
interceptor gets launched. Next pass same happens. Third pass no
countermeasures left (just how many decoys and bags of dust are you
going to include in your payload?) and kablooie.

The target can't wait for signs of an interceptor launch before
deploying the countermeasures if it wants them to disperse far enough to
be effective.

Anthony