Satellites Collide Over Siberia

[TheLostVikings]

A ground based laser would vaporise the debris from the underside, which thanks to Newtons pesky laws would push it into higher orbits instead of safely deorbiting it to burn up in the atmosphere.

I doubt the delta-V generated by the slow vaporisation of a few millimetres of material is going to make a difference anyway. A few m/s perhaps, which won't modify the orbit much.

Well the majority of space debris are surprisingly small:

3). How much orbital debris is currently in Earth orbit?
Approximately 17,000 objects larger than 10 cm are known to exist. The estimated population of particles between 1 and 10 cm in diameter is greater than 200,000. The number of particles smaller than 1 cm probably exceeds tens of millions.

So there are tens of million of relatively tiny pieces of debris which could most likely be disposed of this way, and with a slightly more powerful laser you could jump up a level and take out those 1-10cm objects too, leaving only the pieces of debris which are most easily tracked (and thus avoided).

While I readily admit it isn't a catchall method (unless you get a really powerful laser ), it would serve as house cleaning so you can focus on more important stuff. More microdebris will undoubtedly continue to be generated, so having a broom capable of sweeping them away is imho desirable.

[frogcurry]

I thought you could achieve a good affect by using a ground based laser and firing at the front face of satellites as they come above the horizon repeatedly? This would lead to de-orbiting by reducing orbital velocity.

Alternatively the satellite could just a giant mirror and some solar panels. Re-shape the mirror then fire an earth laser at it, bounce off onto target to get a much larger but still cheaper effect. This also avoids putting an actual expensive and delicate weapon in space, you just have a somewhat delicate mirror instead.