DynaSoar
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Talk of lasers elsewhere got me rethinking about an old idea.
Would it be possible to devise an interferometer using a reference laser on the ground and a target laser on a rocket, so that you could determine the speed (and given a time stamp, altitude)? There's no reason that for this purpose the target beam would have to remain narrow, would it? After all, it's the frequency shift you're measuring not the beam strength. I assume the receiver would be the limiting technical factor. What does it take to make an interferometer like this go?
Would it be possible to devise an interferometer using a reference laser on the ground and a target laser on a rocket, so that you could determine the speed (and given a time stamp, altitude)? There's no reason that for this purpose the target beam would have to remain narrow, would it? After all, it's the frequency shift you're measuring not the beam strength. I assume the receiver would be the limiting technical factor. What does it take to make an interferometer like this go?