i worry... i worry...
China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
11–20 of 24 posts
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#12"In 2007 the Chinese military launched a ballistic missile into orbit to destroy an obsolete Chinese weather satellite. It scared the hell out of NASA because of the sudden cloud of new debris in orbit (which at one point forced astronauts to leave the International Space Station to during one dangerous pass by the debris."
This was by far the more onerous problem. What many folks don't internalize is that there is an interesting balance between being able to be in orbit, and the junk there. Once it exceeds a certain density the existing satellites will become victims to collisions, their debris will add to the junk which will take out all of the rest. One computer model has all of 'low earth' orbit from 100 - 150 miles out being destroyed (including the ISS) with the destruction of as few as 5 satellites. Actually deploying a debris field could render earth orbit unusable with 2 launches. What is worse is once you have this mass of junk up there you can't relaunch new satellites to recover, they won't survive. And you can't launch to Geo because you can't get through the swamp, game over for space assets.
Pretty much the space activity for the next decade after that event is cleanup strategies.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#13It is important to note, these were not intelligence satellites. This is more like the Chinese government doing what some of the hacker sub culture has done for a long time: rattle the lock and see how easy it is to open. Presumably security was not a big concern, because how many jerks would have the means to hack into these? And what could you accomplish other than vandalism? As it turns out, now we know. Live and learn.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#14"In 2007 the Chinese military launched a ballistic missile into orbit to destroy an obsolete Chinese weather satellite. It scared the hell out of NASA because of the sudden cloud of new debris in orbit (which at one point forced astronauts to leave the International Space Station to during one dangerous pass by the debris." This was by far the more onerous problem. What many folks don't internalize is that there is a…
That's not really true in LEO or above geosynchronous orbit. Small objects can't stay in LEO for vary long because of atmospheric drag. And above geosynchronous orbit most existing satellites don't have enough energy for pieces of them to reach that orbit. Realistically, you can also design redundant systems that can withstand a lot of impacts without failing. So, while you could destroy a lot of what's up there after a few years people could start putting things back into orbit.
PS: I would look at a lot of this stuff as a combination of misinformation and requests for a larger budget. The single most important hacking indecent involved a few small group of teenagers that exploited some mail servers and caused enough havoc that nuking the city that the attacks seemed to be originating from was on the table. Read up on "Solar Sunrise" and don't fuck with NORAD they don't feel the need to play nice.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#15"Bockris further advises that interface with Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7 is entirely compatible and yields optimal penetration capabilities, particularly with regard to existing military systems...." "How about an AI?" "Existing military systems and artificial intelligences." "Jesus Christ. What did you call it?" "Kuang Grade Mark Eleven." "It's Chinese?" "Yes." Wiliam Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984
The fact that nobody has succeeded in translating Neuromancer to the big screen is a testament to Gibson's ability to make something that's usually so dry and technical truly come to life.
I would think that'd make it easier to bring to the big screen.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#16The report didn't pin it on China. What kinda moronic title is this?
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#17i worry... i worry...
it's really a joke ,i think.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#18Nothing stays secret forever, so it's probably time to create new satellites with upgraded interfaces. Them's the breaks. Off-shoring most electronics manufacture in the US is probably a "Battlestar Galactica" size mistake, though. Even if our super-military grade electronics are home grown, where will we get the expertise to continue to make such without a domestic industry?
What country do you think most of the advanced microprocessors are made in? The US has a lot of experience building super-expensive fabs and mass-producing amazingly complex microprocessors, which is why if you look into your computer, you'll notice that your processor was made in the US, not China.
I live in Phoenix...
Within biking distance of my house there are fabs for:
ON Semiconductor
Freescale
and
Intel
We make a lot of glass here.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
What country do you think most of the advanced microprocessors are made in? The US has a lot of experience building super-expensive fabs and mass-producing amazingly complex microprocessors, which is why if you look into your computer, you'll notice that your processor was made in the US, not China.
I live in Phoenix... Within biking distance of my house there are fabs for: ON Semiconductor Freescale and Intel We make a lot of glass here.
Phoenix and Hillsboro probably do the most volume in the US. I wonder what happened to TI's fabs, though.
The reason that they are so centralised is that it costs a shockingly /huge/ amount of money to build and run a new fab. It makes all sorts of business sense to outsource fabrication, particularly when your own chip production volumes are nowhere near enough to keep fab utilisation at close to full.
As for the super-complex chip argument, I'm not sure I buy it. Sure, Intel (and I hope, IBM) still run their own fabs - they almost have to, given the amount of control they require over the processes. However, all fabless semiconductor companies (by definition :) outsource - and that does include a majority of the chips you encounter in your daily life. Most smartphone processors are made in Taiwan, or somewhere close by.
Re: China hacked two US satellites in '07 and '08
#20Because of language and the Chinese govt's lack of openness, we don't hear of Chinese satellites or companies pwned by American hackers. I wonder how much US-initiated cyberwhatevorrism takes place.