Soviet laser space pistol - photos

**Altair** · Jul 27, 2021, 03:42 PM

Laser pistol developed by the Soviets in the 1980s for use by cosmonauts in space. The non-lethal pistol used pyrotechnic cartridges designed to blind and fry sensitive optical sensors aboard a hostile spacecraft.

Previously:

TP-82 cosmonaut triple-barreled firearm with machete stock
200-watt laser bazooka - GIF and video
AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System demonstration - GIF
Hand-held laser for nuclear decommissioning

**bruce.desertrat** · Jul 28, 2021, 04:18 PM

More deets: it's a flashbulb (the 'cartridge')-excited yttrium-garnet laser. https://www.popularmechanics.com/spa...stol-revealed/

**hemmjo** · Jul 29, 2021, 07:38 AM

If you" blind and fry sensitive optical sensors aboard a hostile spacecraft" would not not make the weapon lethal?

Seems to me a space craft does not have many "sensitive optical sensors aboard" that are not critical to survival? Maybe a few cameras, etc.

**bruce.desertrat** · Jul 29, 2021, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by hemmjo

If you" blind and fry sensitive optical sensors aboard a hostile spacecraft" would not not make the weapon lethal?

Seems to me a space craft does not have many "sensitive optical sensors aboard" that are not critical to survival? Maybe a few cameras, etc.

Early CCD sensors were quite susceptible to IR damage (and still are...want a quick IR camera? Disassemble a cheap webcam and remove the IR filter. Often you don't have to even do that..point an IR remote control at a web cam and you can clearly see the IR LED light up when you press a button.) the output of these lasers was likely in the milliwatt range. But this was a project born of late Soviet-era institutional paranoia as much as anything else; it really didn't have a realistic use case.