• Question: Have you ever sent a laser to space? Will you be able to see it, because light doesnt work in space, doesnt it?xx

    Asked by 10druryp to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 26 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by spongebob2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Light travels very well through space, like the light that comes from the sun or the stars to us. But no, not many people want laser treatment in space so my lasers stay firmly on the ground.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      I’ve never shone a laser to space, although there are some laser reflectors that the astronauts left on the moon. Nasa use these reflectors with a laser system to measure how for the moon is away from the earth, with an accuracy of a few cm.

      Light does travel in space – it travels from the sun and stars to earth, but whether you’d be able to see it will depend on whether there is anything to shine it against. You normally can’t see a laser beam until it hits something.

    • Photo: Tianfu Yao

      Tianfu Yao answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      The optical beam get serious attenuation in the air, due to scattering and other problems. Also I think the laser sent to the space is invisible, like middle IR or other wavelengths. So it cannot been seen by eyes. However there are some detector which can detect the extremely low power at some specific wavelength. Thus there are still some application in this area.

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