Can satellites do direct energy weapons?

Question

Can satellites do direct energy weapons?

Answer 1

Unlikely. Sure you could put a laser or microwave beam weapon on a satellite but those are not 100 percent efficient. This means that they produce a lot of heat. A laser is usually maybe 10 percent efficient. So if you had a 1 MW laser on a satellite it would dump 10 MW of heat into the satellite. Heat on satellites is already a big deal. Since they are in the vacuum of space there is no way to get the heat out of them. Normally heat can be conducted away by air, but not in space. So basically, you could have one, but you would get 1 shot before it melted. It was determined that this was unlikely to work in the 1980s, they instead wanted a satellite based mirror that they could reflect a ground based laser off of to shoot stuff with.  

Answer 2

only against targets in space.  the atmosphere scatters most beams.  also sound would not carry in space so that form of energy weapon is out as is anything that would require a medium to travel through.  lasers can and have been mounted on spyplanes and on ground installations for use against incomming ballistic missles.  

Answer 3

yes, presuming directed energy weapons can be produced.  given that, there is no reason that it could not be done from a satellite.  if used against a space based target a satellite is the best platform.  the atmosphere makes optical beams problematic but current technology offers some remedies or microwaves can be used