If you’re gonna do it, overdo it. For example, here’s what an operational anti-missile Space Based Laser might’ve looked like, compared to the Zenith Star experimental laser and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. Kinda bignormous, with a 50-foot diameter primary mirror. Details on this are shockingly lean, with the model put together using two tiny diagrams and one poorly reproduced bit of artwork… and they don’t agree with each other on everything. So a lot of this is guesswork. It’s not even close to done, but I thought some of y’all might be interested. The “tail end” of the operational SBL has what I’m assuming is an SP-100 nuclear reactor for running non-laser systems. The laser itself would be chemical, not nuclear, with around 80 shots worth of fuel.
