It may be of interest for people to know, Paton was only nicked with a 40mW laser. So the hit will be of course be to the tax payer to bang him up for some time.
A Flashing Success | Letters to Earth
With the current insatiable "mine's bigger than yours" craze, people claim to have hit the space station at 200 miles with ....yes believe it or not, ...
...these handheld 1W lasers are available for sale and orderable via the internet.
One chap claims to be able to build up to 2.4W units...
"Survival Lasers sells a 1.25 watt laser for under $150 here on the
forum. You can find home built 1.5-2.0 watt lasers for under $200 easily"
Currently costing a mere 180£ below, it's only a matter of time before some nutter points one at an a/c or even uses it off a motorway bridge or something!
Blue Laser Pointer 1 Watt | S3 Arctic | Spyder III | Wicked Lasers
S3 Arctic 1 Watt Laser Review | GadgetReview
Laserglow Technologies - Handheld Lasers, Alignment Lasers and Lab / OEM Lasers
There are loads of outfits selling them.
Time to take some preventive action methinks.
FYI:-
The 200mW of 532nM green appears 6x as bright as 1 watt of 445nM blue laser.
I loved the disclaimer btw:-
"Laser pointers are a lot of fun, provided you don’t point it in an eye or try to hit a overflying airplane. But hitting the International Space Station is 100% OK, provided you communicate your intentions to an astronaut"
This little b
can do 300mW.
ANTICIPATION, Forewarned is forearmed.