Downvotes probably due to people thinking that your comment adds nothing to the conversation, not necessarily disagreeing with you (I would think that the pic would be cooler if it were higher res; as it is, I can't make much sense of it).

(a) So, what, those are optics they use to bounce the beam around, so they can get 10km of laser beam on a 5m bench?

(b) I can't look at that picture without thinking of Agatha's dingbots from Girl Genius. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091005

I think its cool.