Requirements for melting snow from orbit using EM radiation

My (your) goal is to melt several tons of snow and ice in a small area using electromagnetic radiation beamed down from a spacecraft in orbit. The atmosphere that's in the way is vaguely Earth-like but with less oxygen and more nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The planet is comparable in radius to Earth.

I imagine the radiation would either need to be optical or radio to penetrate the atmosphere, but both these types of radiation are reflected by ice and would do very little to heat it, let alone melt it. Assuming an extremely advanced EM projection technology, that can create beams of energy with effectively perfect focus and massive amount of power:

• What wavelength of radiation would be the best/most power-efficient choice for penetrating the atmosphere and melting the snow?

• What order of magnitude of total energy would the emitted radiation be required to have to melt one ton of snow?

• How would local weather, such as an active blizzard, affect the previous points?

posted over 4 years ago

ApproachingDarknessFish‭

1 reputation 14 0 0 0