What is the purpose of VLEO? Being at lower altitude to enable kinetic weapons for projects like Golden Dome?

1. The proximity improves performance: - Range^2: imaging, other sensing, closing link budgets (data you're sending or signals you're sensing) - Range^3: SAR - Range^4: Active sensing (lidar, radar, etc) - Speed: Comms latency, time to intercept - If you can build systems fast/cheap, this physics unlock creates a new paradigm for system architectures (compared to traditional cost/schedule/performance tradeoffs)

2. Diversification is important for resilience/deterrence - Drag self cleans debris - It's below the belts where radiation gets trapped after a nuclear detonation. Makes for not only a survivable orbit, but one with assured reconstitution

I think the main purpose, atleast in this case, is to enable very high resolution satellite imagery (whether or not that being a good thing in and of itself is another matter).

You've made several accounts to post this same thing and they all end up banned.

Except when the bombardment comes from space.

Golden Dome is planning large constellations of lasers like this in constant orbit, as well as hypersonic warheads able to target any spot on Earth within 90 seconds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Dome_(missile_defense_s...

It's explicitly an offensive technology (and of course Musk has been involved)

The only similarity between Golden Dome and Iron Beam is in their branding. An orbital conventional launch platform shares almost nothing with a land-based small-arms directed-energy one.

It's Trump's version of Reagan's Star Wars - it's all bluster that we will not see any result of, and it will be quietly shelved by future governments.

Only after billions (trillions?) of dollars have been doled out to favored allies of the President though.

Elon Musk already made a few $B on it so far, but he clearly has sights on $T.