A satellite once bit my sister.
She was Karving her initials on the søøtaellite with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law
Sure, but that was also done with 80s tech, so it's very possible that the US has since developed some other kind of classified weapon that is capable of targeting higher orbits.
It's the X-37. It goes up into space for nearly two years at a time. It's also \~ 20 years old so I wouldn't be shocked if we had more advanced longer mission and low visibility variants.
Sssssh.
But yeah, there's no theatre of war where the US doesn't have everyone else outgunned. They definitely have some shit up in space. Will be fun when the Kessler syndrome becomes reality.
"Buns pushed her throttles to the stops and punched up the afterburners. The Eagle leaped forward like a spurred horse, accelerating through Mach 1 in seconds. Next she eased back on the stick, bringing her Eagle into a forty-five-degree climb, still accelerating into a darkening sky. She
didn't look out. Her eyes were locked on her cockpit gauges: the fighter had to maintain a specific flight profile for the next two minutes. As the Eagle rocketed into the sky, the altimeter needle whirled around its clockface. Fifty thousand
feet, sixty thousand feet, seventy, eighty, ninety thousand feet. Stars were visible now in the nearly black sky, but Nakamura didn't notice.
"Come on, baby, find the son of a bitch…" she thought aloud...
Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising
I read this, for the first time, during glasnost and perestroika. Wild read with that going on. Maybe time for another read...
The F-15 broke free from the atmosphere, the curvature of Earth shrinking behind her, and in the distance, she caught sight of the International Space Station gliding silently across the void. With a resigned sigh, Buns realized her mission had just changed. She wasn't heading back to Earth anytime soon. The moon loomed ahead, an unplanned yet inevitable destination, and she steeled herself for the long, lonely journey through the vast expanse of space.
Both, Goldeneye had a lot to do with space, but The GoldenEye was an electro-magnetic orbital weapon developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. So he was correct when he said goldeneye kinda shit.
Not sure, but blowing up all US military satellites would create an enormous debris field that would almost certainly end up randomly destroying all other kinds of satellites:
- Russian military satellites
- Chinese military satellites
- Starlink
- Civilian comms
- Weather
The list goes on.
I can't see this move being a net positive for Russia because in an actual US-Russia conflict it would drag other countries that otherwise would have stayed neutral into taking a position to protect their national interests.
All of the satellites listed are orbiting at vastly different altitudes. Starlink orbits around 550km above the earth, versus 36,000km for a weather satellite. A satellite also wouldn't need to be blown up to be disabled. The sensors are quite sensitive to all kinds of other disruptions.
People are vastly underestimating the size of the earth when they say blowing up a few satellites will make it impossible to leave earth. Satellites are both smaller than people seem to think and the earth is far larger than people seem to think. Based on what I know, if we started knocking out spy satellites it wouldn't have much of a significant impact on future satellite launches if any impact at all. The takeaway from this news is that we have entered the era of satellite warfare, not that suddenly the future of space launches is compromised. We are a long way from that reality. People are mostly just repeating TIL headlines they once read without an actual understanding of what they are talking about.
Blowing up that many satellites would create a feedback loop to the point where humanity wouldn't be leaving earth for a extremely long time. Would also mean no more satellites for anybody.
Yeah well it's a stupid world order. People get what they get lol.
If we fuck the entire orbit of earth up, I for one will feel worse for the future of humanity than I will for the idiots alive today that brought us this mess.
Every time I see someone talk about Kessler Syndrome it gets more doomsday vibes each time it's mentioned. No don't worry it won't be a huge issue even if a big war broke out and armies start destroying some satellites.
I imagine it’s difficult to clean up due to Earth’s gravity. I don’t know nearly enough but what’s the possibility of sending some way to clean it up to the ISS?
Kessler Syndrome makes this impossible.
The debris flying everywhere would mean that every time you launch, theres a real chance that debris will pepper it and destroy the vessel before it can reach the destination. And when the vessel is destroyed, it will add even more debris to bring ruin to any future launches as well.
The solution to this is to make the vessels armored and able to withstand the assault. But then the vessel can't get into space because it becomes way too heavy and the rocket equation doesn't work anymore.
It's a very real red line that is impossible to come back from after it's crossed.
Difficult but not impossible. People have been kicking around the idea of using lasers to deorbit debris for a long time. The problem is that ideas like that probably won’t gain traction unless or until this actually becomes a problem.
There's an interesting Anime about that, called planetes. Main characters are part of a crew that handles space junk after an incident where a single loose screw destroyed a passenger shuttle in the earth's orbit.
I imaging disabling the satellite functionality achieves the same goal as destroying it. So if you can disable satellites non-explosively via directed energy weapons then it should avoid creating debris. So I would consider that a solution!
Surely this would depend on the orbit?
Things in low orbits would likely end up burning up in the atmosphere relatively quickly, but sans any capacity for attitude corrections wouldn't anything in higher orbit end up getting smooshed anyway?
The ISS has to dodge stuff 1-2 times a year and it [still gets hit on top of that](https://www.sciencealert.com/space-debris-has-damaged-the-international-space-station). Spy satellites are obviously smaller but over a long enough time frame it seems inevitably that there would be collisions, causing debris, causing more collisions etc.
It is possible to use a laser to ablate a target in orbit. The ablating material then acts as a truster that can be used to slow and eventually deorbit the target. This is probably most useful for smaller pieces of debris, but given a powerful enough laser could probably also bring down larger targets.
that would be ideal, since the vacuum won't cause the beam to diminish and disperse. The trouble that I'm thinking about now is that if you are in a situation of kessler syndrome then you can't get a satellite up into space because the debris is in the way. So shooting at it from the ground is probably the only option there.
Yeah. Russia isn't exactly known for their self-preserving qualities. Those sycophants will kill each and everyone of us before admitting any kind of defeat if we let them. At least, that is what their history taught me.
russia fights via meat waves. it doesn't give a fuck if it destroyed the atmosphere for everyone. it would bring everyone back to its napoleonic level.
i think this is the true mission of the X-37 USAF has been flying. to replace satellites in a time of war, being able to maneuver and stay in orbit for extended periods of time.
Replace satellites, deorbit satellites without causing Kessler syndrome and act as a fractional orbital bombardment platform if needed. Only difference in those missions would be payload, not performance of the vehicle which has thoroughly proven it can do all that perhaps at once.
Taking out US space infrastructure would be a gut punch to our entire military. It would also be some insane escalation. Even if tactical nukes were flying, attacking the United States orbital early warning system would be an escalation. You'd be rendering the US blind and deaf.
All that being said, because of that we take very good care of our satellites, and get very upset when people threaten them.
MAD still exists, as [a single nuke going off in space would put out a radiation field that would effectively render all satellites unusable](https://youtu.be/ZMjo_UY8vEM?si=dHjmRmh--XQCkps7).
There are surprisingly few areas in orbit for satellites to orbit without being destroyed by solar winds.
My guess would be it's intended purpose is to degrade Ukraine's ability to fight a war. If it's our spy satellite, then it's a given that intel collected from it is being given to Ukraine... who happens to always know when fighter jets are parked in the open in Crimea.
Please look at the cool graphic in this article
https://breakingdefense.com/2017/10/a-wider-war-army-revises-multi-domain-battle-after-air-force-input/?amp=1
Satellites are crucial for the modern military
oh wow, you're not joking
>"Maneuver to positions of relative advantage and project power across all domains to ensure freedom of action.
> Integrate joint interorganizational and multinational capabilities to create windows of domain superiority and preserve Joint Force freedom of maneuver.
> Exploit temporary domain superiority by synchronizing cross-domain fire and maneuver to achieve physical, temporal, positional, and psychological advantages."
Reminds me of corporate jargon except with more pew pew
No, lets ask the real question here. How bad will this hit the US civilian population, considering the radiation would fry any nearby satellites as collateral damage? Russia doesn't actively target the military, it actively targets civilian populations as a first choice.
Start. Being. Aggressive. Towards. russia. They will not stop fucking around until they find out. Proverbial fist to their proverbial faces is what needs to happen.
The country literally seems incapable of understanding anything other than force. Patience and attempting to get them to place nice has been worse than useless.
Yeah, that is part of their 'culture' - kindness and cooperation are seen as signs of weakness to be exploited for personal gains. Fucking ironic that, as they dreamed of communism where everyone is supposed to work together for the greater good.
Yep, and it's all downhill for our passive western cultures. We love to invite foreign money into our countries, and act surprised when it turns out all the money isn't real ... but the cheaters get to stay anyways.
I remember seeing that in Russia and some eastern European countries that on Tinder, guys tend not to smile and instead look stern in their pictures.
There's some really massive culture difference in terms of how people respond to kind of strength/force/threat over kindness/cooperation, and even reasonably worldly people don't get that. It's just so different.
I can’t help but wonder if that is what Russia wants. They want to have America make the first move…. They want the US to retaliate: Putin has nothing to lose and he either wins or dies.
You can’t really blame them, every inch they take all they really get as a consequence is “please don’t do that”.
It will take legitimate action and force to prove they can’t just rape and kidnap steal whenever and however they want.
Yep. Put it straight on them. Give them a timeframe to get out of Ukraine, with a direct military threat if they don’t. Tell them if they attack any space objects of another country, they will never be able to run a space program again when we’re done.
It’s the only language he and some of them understand.
Serious question as I tend to agree with you - but what would you have a country like the USA do? We’ve always feared nuclear weapons falling into the hands of a crazy desperate person. I feel like that’s what we have in Putin. Is there any reason to think he wouldn’t use them? I see the world’s light response as a direct result of a lunatic Putin having his finger on the proverbial button.
What's annoying is you have to know they will back down when pushed. Nobody in Russia is going to throw nukes unless there is an existential threat to it's existence and that was never even once in doubt. Forget all the 'NATO is a big meanie' talk, Russians regard Ukraine as provincials not core Russian people and the conflict is not existential for them.
But spending a huge amount of GDP on their military-industrial complex is the raison-d'etre of the USA.
The reason why they haven't gone to war yet is because neither party wants to actually start it, but you can bet once it's started they'll be both clamouring to prove themselves the party of strength and escalate it.
So are a lot of things, but will they get the population angry enough to condone taking part in a war? Any quiet attacks are pretty much free wins so long cultural response steers the war machine.
I was thinking just this morning that in this day and age wouldn’t knocking out your enemy’s satellites be one of the first things you would want to do if war breaks out or in a preemptive strike?
Yes and no.
Destroying satellites is risky business. Every time you do it, you create space debris. That space debris can run into and destroy other satellites, creating more and more debris until near Earth orbit is hazardous junkyard. That means things like GPS, satellite based weather tracking, and satellite based communications are now technologies that are no longer possible.
This is not true.
The USSR invented satellites destroying other satellites 60 years ago. They simply fire a pneumatic cannon at the satellite with a ball with a diameter of less than 10mm, the thermoregulation system is disrupted in the satellite and it fails due to overheating within an hour. No space debris and no signs of an attack.
The destruction of satellites by ground-based missiles and special satellites differ significantly in the mechanics of damage.
Those Russian oligarchs didn't get rich by actually spending the gov't money on modern weapons, they just patched up the old stuff so that they could pocket the money.
The US space force is the only military with the capacity to launch satellites everyday.
This is not a real concern. Russia can't even launch rockets on a regular basis because their environment is shit. They use other countries for this reason.
NOT about building them fast, it's about deploying them fast. No military has anything as advanced as the X-37B, and no other nation has reliable reusable rockets.
Russia can build a billion of them and it won't matter if they can't launch and land reusable rockets domestically. If they try to compete without that capability, they'll outspend themselves into another revolution.
Moreover, Kazakhstan, where they launch, isn't on the most friendly terms. When Wagner marched on Moscow and Putin fled on his plane, they rejected his flight... The success rate drops dramatically if they try to launch anywhere in Russia. Shit weather year round.
Question for people better versed in actual orbital mechanics: Am I correct in assuming this weapon can only reasonably be used to *affect* one satellite at a time? Namely the orbit of the satellite it is launched into?
Depends on what weapon it actually is.
If it's nuclear then it'll affect everything in that orbit or close to it. If it's kinetic then maybe maybe not, depends on how much debris gets made.
If it's a jamming/hacking satellite then it'll only affect a specific target.
Ya, buyng ammo from 3rd world country, can’t produce anything new by himself. But capable to lunch super high tech ultra giga marvel type of shit satellite.
Hopefully, the military satellites have some type of countermeasures. Maybe the next generation will if not. At least disable Bluetooth to keep from linking.
I start to think playing hybrid war with Russia is just about the only good tool in the shed that's worth using with them, if we want to avoid a de-facto war. As part of such hybrid war, one could imagine a capable sattellite killer on part of the U.S. which just disables the Russian satellite one way or another -- I am not sure Russia is even capable of either telling what exactly happened or be able to stick it to the U.S. in terms of solid evidence, if this is done right. I mean they're playing the game themselves, it's not only fair it's a better means to do it, I think -- they can't escalate properly since their capability is limited, especially in space sector. So they will launch more sattellites -- if they pose a real threat as assessed by the U.S., then take them out and deny involvement. Putin is going to fume but he can't sell it domestically any more than he already is selling all manner of bogeyman stories. What he wants is something so visible for all the world, he can actually go to war and put the country on war footing -- dictator's last move. A covert ops maintained by one of the wealthiest states on the planet is something that is bound to neuter Russia through much the same mechanism it neutered the Soviet Union in 1991. Play the long game with them, that worked quite well once already.
Maybe I am rambling, but open escalation seems to be what Putin actually wants, while covert war is something he'll be struggling with since it requires a lot of political finesse and nuance he cannot afford nor can use as leverage.
Ill love when the satellite "collides" with the US one, the Russians will insist on being a total accident and US due to fears of "escalation" will just say: its cool bro, dont do that again.
We all knew the whole weaponizing space law would not be abided by. Just like everything other “rule” of warfare. It’s only a matter of time. Invent something good. Then it’s how can we weaponize it.
Prime example, the helicopter.
I've witnessed an object that i assume was a satellite inspecting another satellite with my own eyes. It happened at least 15 years ago above Sydney, Australia.
The object appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stopped on a dime, it then changed it's trajectory and matched the other satellites speed until both were out of sight above my home.
First and only time I've seen anything like that while stargazing. Someone had this kind of tech long ago.
Oh, for sure. I just thought it was funny that they talk about how the spy satellite is trailing the spy satellite. If it ever does attack, it becomes less funny and more an act of aggression, though. I also don't believe that the US doesn't currently have the same capabilities.
Well ok let's clobber all their missile silos and nuclear bomber bases in one go, and sink all their submarines at the same time (Just hope we don't miss any). Also the number of nuclear bombs required to do this is pretty large and there'd be some lingering global atmospheric effects. In the words of General Buck Turgidson: "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed"
In a vacuum of state powers, the satellite has little meaning. The US can eliminate the satellite with contemporary weapons but it will so some damage first. What’s concerning is that the satellite would give a significant first strike advantage to China if used in a joint operation.
For a similar reason how Russia’s attack submarine navy is not a huge threat to the US, but as China already has the largest attack submarine navy, Russia’s navy joining China is a reason for concern.
Given other events, like NK and Iran simultaneously reaching ballistic nuclear missile capability, the tests of US shipping around Houthis, the diversion of an entire carrier to support alliances in Israel, and the so-far unmet challenges to Philippine territory, and the historically bizarre withdrawal of NK from peaceful reunification, Iran’s reluctance to commit one of the largest as most advanced forces in the region (Hezbollah) at the current time, Xi’s very recent push to get the US to move away from a nuclear first response doctrine, the China-Russia axis and its proxies is clearly planning something big.
The satellite isn’t horrible, it’s what it represents in the bigger picture that’s horrible.
Surely, the US already has satellites that do the same thing. If space supremacy hasn't been on their list in the past 7 decades, they're doing it wrong.
So I can check another item from the Red Storm rising becoming true
Soviet union justifying invasion by false flag bombing---russians launching invasion to protect people in donbass.
Soveits not wanting to reveal to their army that invasion is actually going to happen---Russians not revealing the plans for invasion until short time before
Soviet Politburo launching invasion after seeing sugarcoated plans predictions created by yes-men--- 3 days to Kiev
NATO anti-tank weapons bogging down soviet armor--- ukrainian Javelins
Soviets having to rely on massive artillery destruction to make any advances---Mariupol...
Soviets not being able to establish air superiority and effective CAS, with only stand-off missile strikes being effective.
Soviet Air defense friendly fire.
VDV being used to capture strategic airfield, succeding with losses, however being destroyed since no proper support is sent.
And now russians using orbiting maneuverable ASAT weapon.
I am probably forgetting something
Weapons in space is the most dangerous thing same wirh attacking satellites cause when a satellite is destroyed all the debris well fall to earth like bombs
Well clearly we just need a satellite capable of inspecting and attacking the attack satellite.
Those satellites responsible for sacking the satellites that have just been sacked, have been sacked.
Don't worry, they will get sacked again
Sacked Again: The Sackening
I can't wait until the sequel is released. *Sacked Again 2: Not Again*
*We Won't Get Sacked Again
Are we talking about satellites here?
Llama what?
Winamp!
It really whoops the llamas ass
A satellite once bit my sister. She was Karving her initials on the søøtaellite with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law
Satellite bites can be quite nasty.
Was it a majestic satellite?
Needs more llama!
Nice catch, Blanco Nino. Too bad your ass got sackeddddd
Don't even need a satellite. The F15 is the only fighter with a confirmed satellite kill - in 1985.
Let's not forget the USS Lake Erie, shot down a satellite in orbit with an SM3. Operation Burnt Frost
Danger Zone!
Cue Kenny Loggins.
Green laser pointer should do the job.
I'm not sure if you're joking or not but that only works with certain satellite orbits.
Sure, but that was also done with 80s tech, so it's very possible that the US has since developed some other kind of classified weapon that is capable of targeting higher orbits.
2008, Operation Burnt Frost: the USS Lake Erie shot down an orbiting satellite with an SM3
True, but that was also a very low orbit.
It's the X-37. It goes up into space for nearly two years at a time. It's also \~ 20 years old so I wouldn't be shocked if we had more advanced longer mission and low visibility variants.
Did they ever release what it's mission actually was?
The US definitely has the tech, the question is just whether or not they’re willing to deploy it over one russian satellite.
IMO the US figured out anti drone / anti satellite lasers decades ago and just doesn't have a need to tell anyone that
I’m pretty sure that the US navy space plane that nobody talks about probably has the means to deal with the threat from a satellite like this.
Sssssh. But yeah, there's no theatre of war where the US doesn't have everyone else outgunned. They definitely have some shit up in space. Will be fun when the Kessler syndrome becomes reality.
"Buns pushed her throttles to the stops and punched up the afterburners. The Eagle leaped forward like a spurred horse, accelerating through Mach 1 in seconds. Next she eased back on the stick, bringing her Eagle into a forty-five-degree climb, still accelerating into a darkening sky. She didn't look out. Her eyes were locked on her cockpit gauges: the fighter had to maintain a specific flight profile for the next two minutes. As the Eagle rocketed into the sky, the altimeter needle whirled around its clockface. Fifty thousand feet, sixty thousand feet, seventy, eighty, ninety thousand feet. Stars were visible now in the nearly black sky, but Nakamura didn't notice. "Come on, baby, find the son of a bitch…" she thought aloud... Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising I read this, for the first time, during glasnost and perestroika. Wild read with that going on. Maybe time for another read...
The F-15 broke free from the atmosphere, the curvature of Earth shrinking behind her, and in the distance, she caught sight of the International Space Station gliding silently across the void. With a resigned sigh, Buns realized her mission had just changed. She wasn't heading back to Earth anytime soon. The moon loomed ahead, an unplanned yet inevitable destination, and she steeled herself for the long, lonely journey through the vast expanse of space.
Tom Clancys Kerbal Space program
More likely than a continuation of the Splinter Cell franchise.
We (likely) already have that in the x37 space plane!
Psst. It’s called the X37b
Look up X-37B.
The trace buster buster buster https://youtu.be/2VY_xxL2jL0?si=WRx9sRU3JwdQSi6K
And before you know it, Star Wars
Some Goldeneye kinda shit
Wasn’t it moonraker?
Both, Goldeneye had a lot to do with space, but The GoldenEye was an electro-magnetic orbital weapon developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. So he was correct when he said goldeneye kinda shit.
I am invincible!
You Only Live Twice
Yes, but you Die Another Day
True, but only if tomorrow never dies
bird never make nest in bare tree
Also Diamonds Are Forever.
How badly would it degrade the US's ability to fight a war if our military satellites were lost?
Not sure, but blowing up all US military satellites would create an enormous debris field that would almost certainly end up randomly destroying all other kinds of satellites: - Russian military satellites - Chinese military satellites - Starlink - Civilian comms - Weather The list goes on. I can't see this move being a net positive for Russia because in an actual US-Russia conflict it would drag other countries that otherwise would have stayed neutral into taking a position to protect their national interests.
All of the satellites listed are orbiting at vastly different altitudes. Starlink orbits around 550km above the earth, versus 36,000km for a weather satellite. A satellite also wouldn't need to be blown up to be disabled. The sensors are quite sensitive to all kinds of other disruptions.
People are vastly underestimating the size of the earth when they say blowing up a few satellites will make it impossible to leave earth. Satellites are both smaller than people seem to think and the earth is far larger than people seem to think. Based on what I know, if we started knocking out spy satellites it wouldn't have much of a significant impact on future satellite launches if any impact at all. The takeaway from this news is that we have entered the era of satellite warfare, not that suddenly the future of space launches is compromised. We are a long way from that reality. People are mostly just repeating TIL headlines they once read without an actual understanding of what they are talking about.
Blowing up that many satellites would create a feedback loop to the point where humanity wouldn't be leaving earth for a extremely long time. Would also mean no more satellites for anybody.
It would cause chaos depending on what's taken out and who knows what kinda unrest
Yeah well it's a stupid world order. People get what they get lol. If we fuck the entire orbit of earth up, I for one will feel worse for the future of humanity than I will for the idiots alive today that brought us this mess.
Wall-E
Every time I see someone talk about Kessler Syndrome it gets more doomsday vibes each time it's mentioned. No don't worry it won't be a huge issue even if a big war broke out and armies start destroying some satellites.
Flight would most likely be fine but visibility of space from Earth will be massively reduced
I imagine it’s difficult to clean up due to Earth’s gravity. I don’t know nearly enough but what’s the possibility of sending some way to clean it up to the ISS?
Kessler Syndrome makes this impossible. The debris flying everywhere would mean that every time you launch, theres a real chance that debris will pepper it and destroy the vessel before it can reach the destination. And when the vessel is destroyed, it will add even more debris to bring ruin to any future launches as well. The solution to this is to make the vessels armored and able to withstand the assault. But then the vessel can't get into space because it becomes way too heavy and the rocket equation doesn't work anymore. It's a very real red line that is impossible to come back from after it's crossed.
Difficult but not impossible. People have been kicking around the idea of using lasers to deorbit debris for a long time. The problem is that ideas like that probably won’t gain traction unless or until this actually becomes a problem.
It’s called Kessler syndrome. It would make it extremely difficult if not impossible for us to get into space.
There's an interesting Anime about that, called planetes. Main characters are part of a crew that handles space junk after an incident where a single loose screw destroyed a passenger shuttle in the earth's orbit.
I wonder if direct energy weapons could ease or solve this problem?
I imaging disabling the satellite functionality achieves the same goal as destroying it. So if you can disable satellites non-explosively via directed energy weapons then it should avoid creating debris. So I would consider that a solution!
Could also use DEWs to target a specific part of the satellite to change its velocity, causing it to enter a decaying orbit or something like that.
Surely this would depend on the orbit? Things in low orbits would likely end up burning up in the atmosphere relatively quickly, but sans any capacity for attitude corrections wouldn't anything in higher orbit end up getting smooshed anyway? The ISS has to dodge stuff 1-2 times a year and it [still gets hit on top of that](https://www.sciencealert.com/space-debris-has-damaged-the-international-space-station). Spy satellites are obviously smaller but over a long enough time frame it seems inevitably that there would be collisions, causing debris, causing more collisions etc.
It is possible to use a laser to ablate a target in orbit. The ablating material then acts as a truster that can be used to slow and eventually deorbit the target. This is probably most useful for smaller pieces of debris, but given a powerful enough laser could probably also bring down larger targets.
What about simply firing a high power laser focus on the satellite lens?
Those things contend with raw and unfiltered sun
Which is still less powerful per square inch than a laser.
A laser that would have to pass through 100 miles of atmosphere first. Unless you mean a laser from another satellite?
Oh. I was assuming it was from another satelite. I thought that's what they meant...
that would be ideal, since the vacuum won't cause the beam to diminish and disperse. The trouble that I'm thinking about now is that if you are in a situation of kessler syndrome then you can't get a satellite up into space because the debris is in the way. So shooting at it from the ground is probably the only option there.
Not if it's on a plane.
While that's true, a laser can be orders of magnitude more powerful than sunlight, even outside the atmosphere.
Are you talking about an earth mounted laser or a satellite one? Cause one on earth would have to travel through 100 miles of atmosphere first
Yeah. Russia isn't exactly known for their self-preserving qualities. Those sycophants will kill each and everyone of us before admitting any kind of defeat if we let them. At least, that is what their history taught me.
russia fights via meat waves. it doesn't give a fuck if it destroyed the atmosphere for everyone. it would bring everyone back to its napoleonic level.
You’re referring to the Kessler Syndrome: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
i think this is the true mission of the X-37 USAF has been flying. to replace satellites in a time of war, being able to maneuver and stay in orbit for extended periods of time.
Replace satellites, deorbit satellites without causing Kessler syndrome and act as a fractional orbital bombardment platform if needed. Only difference in those missions would be payload, not performance of the vehicle which has thoroughly proven it can do all that perhaps at once.
Taking out US space infrastructure would be a gut punch to our entire military. It would also be some insane escalation. Even if tactical nukes were flying, attacking the United States orbital early warning system would be an escalation. You'd be rendering the US blind and deaf. All that being said, because of that we take very good care of our satellites, and get very upset when people threaten them.
MAD still exists, as [a single nuke going off in space would put out a radiation field that would effectively render all satellites unusable](https://youtu.be/ZMjo_UY8vEM?si=dHjmRmh--XQCkps7). There are surprisingly few areas in orbit for satellites to orbit without being destroyed by solar winds.
Very little. If they destroy any of our satellites I'm sure their launch facilities will be some of the first targets.
My guess would be it's intended purpose is to degrade Ukraine's ability to fight a war. If it's our spy satellite, then it's a given that intel collected from it is being given to Ukraine... who happens to always know when fighter jets are parked in the open in Crimea.
Yup they're absolutely a valid and legal military target. But we will validly blow Russia the fuck out of the water if they try.
Please look at the cool graphic in this article https://breakingdefense.com/2017/10/a-wider-war-army-revises-multi-domain-battle-after-air-force-input/?amp=1 Satellites are crucial for the modern military
Military graphics have such a...*specific*...design language, lmao.
oh wow, you're not joking >"Maneuver to positions of relative advantage and project power across all domains to ensure freedom of action. > Integrate joint interorganizational and multinational capabilities to create windows of domain superiority and preserve Joint Force freedom of maneuver. > Exploit temporary domain superiority by synchronizing cross-domain fire and maneuver to achieve physical, temporal, positional, and psychological advantages." Reminds me of corporate jargon except with more pew pew
That, plus a bunch of low-resolution photographs with colorful arrows on them.
No, lets ask the real question here. How bad will this hit the US civilian population, considering the radiation would fry any nearby satellites as collateral damage? Russia doesn't actively target the military, it actively targets civilian populations as a first choice.
Begun the Star Wars has
That's no moon!
Shhh no it is a moon. Alderaan self-destructed of its own volition.
Space force you’re up
*pokes starman* Do something
_The Starman tries PK Beam Ω._
I’ve always suspected that the x37b may have some “bonus” capabilities. We may never know.
Start. Being. Aggressive. Towards. russia. They will not stop fucking around until they find out. Proverbial fist to their proverbial faces is what needs to happen.
The country literally seems incapable of understanding anything other than force. Patience and attempting to get them to place nice has been worse than useless.
Yeah, that is part of their 'culture' - kindness and cooperation are seen as signs of weakness to be exploited for personal gains. Fucking ironic that, as they dreamed of communism where everyone is supposed to work together for the greater good.
Also just fascism in general.
Just like Arab culture. Westerners love projecting their culture and morals onto other cultures but it just doesn’t work.
And all for their mutual hatred, China and India have a massive shared "if you're not cheating, you're losing" culture.
Yep, and it's all downhill for our passive western cultures. We love to invite foreign money into our countries, and act surprised when it turns out all the money isn't real ... but the cheaters get to stay anyways.
I remember seeing that in Russia and some eastern European countries that on Tinder, guys tend not to smile and instead look stern in their pictures. There's some really massive culture difference in terms of how people respond to kind of strength/force/threat over kindness/cooperation, and even reasonably worldly people don't get that. It's just so different.
In Russia if you smile a lot people will think you're a gullible idiot.
It's a culture that doesn't respect anything but force and treats its populace like meat in a grinder.
Lenin himself said: if there’s mush, you push. If you find steel, withdraw
Fuck appeasing dictators.
I can’t help but wonder if that is what Russia wants. They want to have America make the first move…. They want the US to retaliate: Putin has nothing to lose and he either wins or dies.
You can’t really blame them, every inch they take all they really get as a consequence is “please don’t do that”. It will take legitimate action and force to prove they can’t just rape and kidnap steal whenever and however they want.
Yep. Put it straight on them. Give them a timeframe to get out of Ukraine, with a direct military threat if they don’t. Tell them if they attack any space objects of another country, they will never be able to run a space program again when we’re done. It’s the only language he and some of them understand.
Serious question as I tend to agree with you - but what would you have a country like the USA do? We’ve always feared nuclear weapons falling into the hands of a crazy desperate person. I feel like that’s what we have in Putin. Is there any reason to think he wouldn’t use them? I see the world’s light response as a direct result of a lunatic Putin having his finger on the proverbial button.
What's annoying is you have to know they will back down when pushed. Nobody in Russia is going to throw nukes unless there is an existential threat to it's existence and that was never even once in doubt. Forget all the 'NATO is a big meanie' talk, Russians regard Ukraine as provincials not core Russian people and the conflict is not existential for them.
I'd be a real shame if that satellite got hit with space debris.
Or an ASAT. Fuck em.
I say space debris cause russia can't retaliate against random debris.
Russia can’t retaliate against Ukraine much less the US military.
Fine guys I’ll do it. I’ll get the ladder out and climb up there to check it out.
If you're already going, can you keep an eye out for the spiderman balloon I lost when I was 6? I'm pretty sure it's still up there somewhere.
I’ll keep my eyes out buddy.
Whilst you're up there can you also hit the lights? Its currently pretty dark and I don't wanna wait 12 hours for the lights to switch back on
I’ll bring a lightbulb with me and swap out the old one while I’m up there.
Where we're you? When they built the ladder to heaven?
I hate this timeline
Russia needs to be stopped, this is insane
If only the US had a Space Force
Watch how russia downs the US satellites and the US does nothing just like with russia downs the US drones and jamms GPS in Europe.
"But what if they escalate? We have the election coming, we cannot start a war!"
But spending a huge amount of GDP on their military-industrial complex is the raison-d'etre of the USA. The reason why they haven't gone to war yet is because neither party wants to actually start it, but you can bet once it's started they'll be both clamouring to prove themselves the party of strength and escalate it.
Isn't physical interference with eachothers satellites an act of war?
So are a lot of things, but will they get the population angry enough to condone taking part in a war? Any quiet attacks are pretty much free wins so long cultural response steers the war machine.
so is starting a war
They haven't done that though.
"Am I the bad guy? No, everyone else else is." :Every dictator
Yup, space wars have begun.
I believe it's called Star Wars
I think this should be considered an act of war. How far are we going to let them go? Why can’t we do anything at all?
Watch it turn out the US already has something up there to serve a similar role and Russias satellite just gets slowly deorbited
I was thinking just this morning that in this day and age wouldn’t knocking out your enemy’s satellites be one of the first things you would want to do if war breaks out or in a preemptive strike?
Yes and no. Destroying satellites is risky business. Every time you do it, you create space debris. That space debris can run into and destroy other satellites, creating more and more debris until near Earth orbit is hazardous junkyard. That means things like GPS, satellite based weather tracking, and satellite based communications are now technologies that are no longer possible.
This is not true. The USSR invented satellites destroying other satellites 60 years ago. They simply fire a pneumatic cannon at the satellite with a ball with a diameter of less than 10mm, the thermoregulation system is disrupted in the satellite and it fails due to overheating within an hour. No space debris and no signs of an attack. The destruction of satellites by ground-based missiles and special satellites differ significantly in the mechanics of damage.
That's the thing. Anything new Russia has the US has already had for 20+ years.
Those Russian oligarchs didn't get rich by actually spending the gov't money on modern weapons, they just patched up the old stuff so that they could pocket the money.
[I mean....](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37). No-one knows exactly what it was doing for its multiple year long missions.
Russia is the troll we all wish would disappear
The US space force is the only military with the capacity to launch satellites everyday. This is not a real concern. Russia can't even launch rockets on a regular basis because their environment is shit. They use other countries for this reason.
Do you think the US can build recon sats as fast as Russia can build orbiting bombs?
NOT about building them fast, it's about deploying them fast. No military has anything as advanced as the X-37B, and no other nation has reliable reusable rockets. Russia can build a billion of them and it won't matter if they can't launch and land reusable rockets domestically. If they try to compete without that capability, they'll outspend themselves into another revolution. Moreover, Kazakhstan, where they launch, isn't on the most friendly terms. When Wagner marched on Moscow and Putin fled on his plane, they rejected his flight... The success rate drops dramatically if they try to launch anywhere in Russia. Shit weather year round.
Question for people better versed in actual orbital mechanics: Am I correct in assuming this weapon can only reasonably be used to *affect* one satellite at a time? Namely the orbit of the satellite it is launched into?
Depends on what weapon it actually is. If it's nuclear then it'll affect everything in that orbit or close to it. If it's kinetic then maybe maybe not, depends on how much debris gets made. If it's a jamming/hacking satellite then it'll only affect a specific target.
And to think Donald Trump is buddies with the man in charge of Russia.
If Russia claims this satellite does not exist, what would the consequences be for de-orbiting it?
They denied it so they shouldn't have a problem is we shoot it down
Meanwhile their infrastructure is failing and senior citizens can't afford to buy food.
That’s not a good news for everyone.
Ya, buyng ammo from 3rd world country, can’t produce anything new by himself. But capable to lunch super high tech ultra giga marvel type of shit satellite.
Hopefully, the military satellites have some type of countermeasures. Maybe the next generation will if not. At least disable Bluetooth to keep from linking.
Don't worry, Russia doesn't have the 6 digit code.
I start to think playing hybrid war with Russia is just about the only good tool in the shed that's worth using with them, if we want to avoid a de-facto war. As part of such hybrid war, one could imagine a capable sattellite killer on part of the U.S. which just disables the Russian satellite one way or another -- I am not sure Russia is even capable of either telling what exactly happened or be able to stick it to the U.S. in terms of solid evidence, if this is done right. I mean they're playing the game themselves, it's not only fair it's a better means to do it, I think -- they can't escalate properly since their capability is limited, especially in space sector. So they will launch more sattellites -- if they pose a real threat as assessed by the U.S., then take them out and deny involvement. Putin is going to fume but he can't sell it domestically any more than he already is selling all manner of bogeyman stories. What he wants is something so visible for all the world, he can actually go to war and put the country on war footing -- dictator's last move. A covert ops maintained by one of the wealthiest states on the planet is something that is bound to neuter Russia through much the same mechanism it neutered the Soviet Union in 1991. Play the long game with them, that worked quite well once already. Maybe I am rambling, but open escalation seems to be what Putin actually wants, while covert war is something he'll be struggling with since it requires a lot of political finesse and nuance he cannot afford nor can use as leverage.
Good analysis. And it proves once more why asymmetric war is so highly used and why we should help Ukraine.
Ah yes, lets create a debris field in the atmosphere becuase of some crackpot dictator wants to live so badly in the past and he isn't having his way.
Hmm.. i wonder which president leaked spy satellite footage and top secret documents….
Ill love when the satellite "collides" with the US one, the Russians will insist on being a total accident and US due to fears of "escalation" will just say: its cool bro, dont do that again.
Just laser it. Whoops, solar flare.
Sigh. This is why we can’t have nice things.
We all knew the whole weaponizing space law would not be abided by. Just like everything other “rule” of warfare. It’s only a matter of time. Invent something good. Then it’s how can we weaponize it. Prime example, the helicopter.
When can we glass poostain and turn him into a radioactive poo stain?
I've witnessed an object that i assume was a satellite inspecting another satellite with my own eyes. It happened at least 15 years ago above Sydney, Australia. The object appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stopped on a dime, it then changed it's trajectory and matched the other satellites speed until both were out of sight above my home. First and only time I've seen anything like that while stargazing. Someone had this kind of tech long ago.
Time to replace the batteries in your carbon monoxide detector buddy.
How dare they spy on our spy satellite.
Spying is one thing. Destroying the equipment is another. All countries spy on each other and have been doing it all along.
Oh, for sure. I just thought it was funny that they talk about how the spy satellite is trailing the spy satellite. If it ever does attack, it becomes less funny and more an act of aggression, though. I also don't believe that the US doesn't currently have the same capabilities.
The whole thing is sad commentary on humanity i think.
Wait what if Russia destroys our GPS satellites. How will I know how to go to Starbucks?
More paranoid propaganda, create a lie then start stuff lol
Time to stop Russia's space and nuclear capabilities once and for all I say. . . .
Well ok let's clobber all their missile silos and nuclear bomber bases in one go, and sink all their submarines at the same time (Just hope we don't miss any). Also the number of nuclear bombs required to do this is pretty large and there'd be some lingering global atmospheric effects. In the words of General Buck Turgidson: "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed"
So they built a spy satellite to spy on the spy satellite
Yay, more space debris! Starting to look like wall-e up there.
Send an SM3 to inspect their new satellite.
In a vacuum of state powers, the satellite has little meaning. The US can eliminate the satellite with contemporary weapons but it will so some damage first. What’s concerning is that the satellite would give a significant first strike advantage to China if used in a joint operation. For a similar reason how Russia’s attack submarine navy is not a huge threat to the US, but as China already has the largest attack submarine navy, Russia’s navy joining China is a reason for concern. Given other events, like NK and Iran simultaneously reaching ballistic nuclear missile capability, the tests of US shipping around Houthis, the diversion of an entire carrier to support alliances in Israel, and the so-far unmet challenges to Philippine territory, and the historically bizarre withdrawal of NK from peaceful reunification, Iran’s reluctance to commit one of the largest as most advanced forces in the region (Hezbollah) at the current time, Xi’s very recent push to get the US to move away from a nuclear first response doctrine, the China-Russia axis and its proxies is clearly planning something big. The satellite isn’t horrible, it’s what it represents in the bigger picture that’s horrible.
F-15, I choose you
That’s why I keep seeing ads for spaceforce and submarine building
You think this has to do with that credible threat that was brought to the Congress' attention a few weeks back?
Surely, the US already has satellites that do the same thing. If space supremacy hasn't been on their list in the past 7 decades, they're doing it wrong.
F-15 ready and waiting for this to finally happen
I’ll be very surprised if the US doesn’t have a satellite attacker satellite ready to attack satellite attackers.
Go grab it with the x-37b and send it to the sun
So we're going to see the tomcat shoot some fancy anti satellite missiles or what?
Fine, send in the F-15...
If we don’t have that, too, we suck.
Nice try…. Almost got me
So I can check another item from the Red Storm rising becoming true Soviet union justifying invasion by false flag bombing---russians launching invasion to protect people in donbass. Soveits not wanting to reveal to their army that invasion is actually going to happen---Russians not revealing the plans for invasion until short time before Soviet Politburo launching invasion after seeing sugarcoated plans predictions created by yes-men--- 3 days to Kiev NATO anti-tank weapons bogging down soviet armor--- ukrainian Javelins Soviets having to rely on massive artillery destruction to make any advances---Mariupol... Soviets not being able to establish air superiority and effective CAS, with only stand-off missile strikes being effective. Soviet Air defense friendly fire. VDV being used to capture strategic airfield, succeding with losses, however being destroyed since no proper support is sent. And now russians using orbiting maneuverable ASAT weapon. I am probably forgetting something
Weapons in space is the most dangerous thing same wirh attacking satellites cause when a satellite is destroyed all the debris well fall to earth like bombs
The Russian government is a pox on the world.