Who is putting weapons in space?

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cbrunny

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2007
6,791
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I just saw this on CNN website:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/politics/space-war-us-military-preparations/index.html

Since man first explored space, it has been a largely peaceful environment. But now US adversaries are deploying weapons beyond Earth's atmosphere, leading the US military to prepare for the frightening prospect of war in space.
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who dat?

oh.. nvm..

China and Russia are taking aim at America in space with a dizzying array of weapons seemingly borrowed from science fiction. Russia has deployed what could be multiple kamikaze satellites such as "Kosmos 2499" -- designed to sidle up to American satellites and then, if ordered, disable or destroy them. China has launched the "Shiyan" -- equipped with a grappling arm that could snatch US satellites right out of orbit.
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srsly? Well, Trump will handle this. Bigly.

I'm sure he'll cut this:

To respond, the US has created a massive new Space Command, with some 38,000 employees, a $25 billion annual budget, and 134 locations around the globe. Among them are units such as the 50th Space Wing, a 352-member team charged with monitoring US and foreign military satellites. For now, these space warriors are little more than spectators, watching and observing this new space battlefield with no ability to fire back.
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repoman0

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
5,191
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There was a good 60 minutes interview with General Hyten last year about this. It was basically intended as a public message to the Chinese saying "we know what you're doing and are prepared to stop it."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-look-at-space-command-satellite-defense-60-minutes/

Interestingly, China blew up one of their own satellites in 2008 (?) which has contributed to the huge problem of excess space junk in LEO. There is some unknown space junk density at which a chain reaction will begin, destroying everything in LEO and making it impossible to put any new satellites up. The interview is more about GEO orbit, where most high value US assets are located and which we are quite interested in protecting from both tampering and outright destruction.

Worth mentioning that another country destroying a US satellite is basically an act of war, so we are more interested in detecting soft tampering.
 
L

LPCTech

Senior member
Dec 11, 2013
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I heard a story ages ago that the US had satellites with giant tungsten rods the size of telephone poles. When directed, the satellites would simply drop the rod in a location that would calculate to the rod hitting the target. No explosives involved. Just that the rod would turn molten in reentry and hit like a meteor destroying just about anything with non radioactive force greater than a nuke. Whatever happened to that? Perhaps it was BS.
 
IronWing

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,970
34,169
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Getting the rods into orbit would be expensive. Neal Stephenson used the device in his book, Anathem.
 
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MagnusTheBrewer

MagnusTheBrewer

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Jun 19, 2004
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LPCTech said:
I heard a story ages ago that the US had satellites with giant tungsten rods the size of telephone poles. When directed, the satellites would simply drop the rod in a location that would calculate to the rod hitting the target. No explosives involved. Just that the rod would turn molten in reentry and hit like a meteor destroying just about anything with non radioactive force greater than a nuke. Whatever happened to that? Perhaps it was BS.
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It went operational however, the rods are actually quite small. Think assassination. Of course, drones have superceded the technology.
 
B

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
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LPCTech said:
I heard a story ages ago that the US had satellites with giant tungsten rods the size of telephone poles. When directed, the satellites would simply drop the rod in a location that would calculate to the rod hitting the target. No explosives involved. Just that the rod would turn molten in reentry and hit like a meteor destroying just about anything with non radioactive force greater than a nuke. Whatever happened to that? Perhaps it was BS.
Click to expand...

It was BS.

Technically possible but expensive to loft that much mass into orbit and not more effective or quicker than weapons we already have available. You would also need a lot of them, which would make it pretty obvious.
 
Paratus

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
17,669
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repoman0 said:
There was a good 60 minutes interview with General Hyten last year about this. It was basically intended as a public message to the Chinese saying "we know what you're doing and are prepared to stop it."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-look-at-space-command-satellite-defense-60-minutes/

Interestingly, China blew up one of their own satellites in 2008 (?) which has contributed to the huge problem of excess space junk in LEO. There is some unknown space junk density at which a chain reaction will begin, destroying everything in LEO and making it impossible to put any new satellites up. The interview is more about GEO orbit, where most high value US assets are located and which we are quite interested in protecting from both tampering and outright destruction.

Worth mentioning that another country destroying a US satellite is basically an act of war, so we are more interested in detecting soft tampering.
Click to expand...

After that Chinese missile test and a Russian rocket body exploded we went from doing ISS Debris Avoidance Manuevers every once in awhile to something like one or more times a month.

It's been a real pain in the ass.
 
Paratus

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
17,669
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cbrunny said:
I just saw this on CNN website:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/politics/space-war-us-military-preparations/index.html



who dat?

oh.. nvm..



srsly? Well, Trump will handle this. Bigly.

I'm sure he'll cut this:
Click to expand...


The thing is you have to give away the target(s) of your aggressor satellite. (EDIT I'm referring to satellite to satellite warfare in this post) For non geosynchronous satellites the targets would have to be in the same orbital plane or the aggressor satellite would have to have a high isp (ion or Hall effect) drive and would take several weeks to match orbits.

Geosynchronous might be easier to hide the target because of all the traffic up there. Even still it will only be close to certain satellites at any given time.

Plus you can't exactly hide a launch. Once you track the launch you know the destination of the aggressor satellite.

I'm not saying it's impossible just very difficult to pull off a soft attack without us knowing.
 
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NostaSeronx

Diamond Member
Sep 18, 2011
3,811
1,290
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Generally, killer satellites are pointless. Military Grid Detection Arrays in Space is what should be watched for... Pop a few micro-sensor stealth sats, tack military targets(RF/Thermal/Mantis), then launch a couple hundred/thousand hypersonics at targets of interest. Then start invading in mass, boom successful insertion.
 
Paratus

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
17,669
15,886
146
NostaSeronx said:
Generally, killer satellites are pointless. Military Grid Detection Arrays in Space is what should be watched for... Pop a few micro-sensor stealth sats, tack military targets(RF/Thermal/Mantis), then launch a couple hundred/thousand hypersonics at targets of interest. Then start invading in mass, boom successful insertion.
Click to expand...
Wat?
 
cytg111

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
26,272
15,685
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The rolling back of the US on the international scene means more wars and ups the ante for ww3. A ww3 will bite everyone in the arse, including the US. We must have forgotten ww2 allready. War idiots. Must we do it again?
There is only one way forward and that is together. An arms race is the opposite of together.
 
D

Darwin333

Lifer
Dec 11, 2006
19,946
2,329
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repoman0 said:
There was a good 60 minutes interview with General Hyten last year about this. It was basically intended as a public message to the Chinese saying "we know what you're doing and are prepared to stop it."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-look-at-space-command-satellite-defense-60-minutes/

Interestingly, China blew up one of their own satellites in 2008 (?) which has contributed to the huge problem of excess space junk in LEO. There is some unknown space junk density at which a chain reaction will begin, destroying everything in LEO and making it impossible to put any new satellites up. The interview is more about GEO orbit, where most high value US assets are located and which we are quite interested in protecting from both tampering and outright destruction.

Worth mentioning that another country destroying a US satellite is basically an act of war, so we are more interested in detecting soft tampering.
Click to expand...

Ugh, would really like to watch but you gotta subscribe and pay. Since I only really want to watch this one thing and I am horrible about canceling reoccurring charges like that I avoid them like the plague.
 
hal2kilo

hal2kilo

Lifer
Feb 24, 2009
26,150
12,358
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LPCTech said:
I heard a story ages ago that the US had satellites with giant tungsten rods the size of telephone poles. When directed, the satellites would simply drop the rod in a location that would calculate to the rod hitting the target. No explosives involved. Just that the rod would turn molten in reentry and hit like a meteor destroying just about anything with non radioactive force greater than a nuke. Whatever happened to that? Perhaps it was BS.
Click to expand...
Sounds like Thor's Hammer which was just a concept.
 
V

Victorian Gray

Lifer
Nov 25, 2013
32,083
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kage69 said:
80s? The Russians put a lunar tank on the moon back in the 60s!
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And the Nazis were on the moon by 1945.

We even have film.

4b19917647a4.jpg
 
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