Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 397 posts

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#41

Post by Gregkion »

_djo_ wrote: post #29
pwdisswordfishq wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that the US ever gave a shit about international treaties.

To be fair, this move is coming after fairly strong evidence that Russia and China have been breaking the treaty by deploying weapons into space for years. Which the US has highlighted many times in the past. At some point you have to acknowledge that the treaty is no longer being respected, and match capabilities to avoid being left at a disadvantage. That said, I'm sure there were tons of people in the US military…

[flagged]

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#42

Post by embedding-shape »

HelloUsername wrote: post #24

> "a kinetic kill vehicle of some sort - so a vehicle that would release a projectile of some sort that would ram into a satellite and destroy it" Semi related "Rods from God": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment

So, it's a pistol on a robotic arm, or what? Kinetic weapon doesn't say much.

A pillar with a tiny engine that just incrementally increases the speed could be devastating at a distance though, I'm sure I've read this as some solution to a problem (or attempted solution to some problem) in some sci-fi book, can't remember which though.

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#43

Post by _djo_ »

Gregkion wrote: post #41
_djo_ wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, this move is coming after fairly strong evidence that Russia and China have been breaking the treaty by deploying weapons into space for years. Which the US has highlighted many times in the past. At some point you have to acknowledge that the treaty is no longer being respected, and match capabilities to avoid being left at a disadvantage. That said, I'm sure there were tons of people in the US military…

[flagged]

If they did, then all three are equally guilty of breaching the treaty and making weapons in space a new norm. That's plausible, sure.

If they didn't, it makes sense why they'd choose to compete on the same playing field now, as the norm is already broken.

None of what I'm posting is about saying the US are the 'good guys' here. Neither the US, Russia, nor China are 'good' for creating a new space arms race that puts everyone at more risk. It might be something we can understand from a purely rational perspective while disliking that it's happening.

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#44

Post by damnesian »

jonkoops wrote: post #8

Space really should be a neutral ground like Antarctica. Especially since the consequences of space debris might trigger the Kessler effect [1], denying humanity future access to low-earth orbit for the considerable future. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

Oh I'm sure it will be "neutral," in the sense that all of us normal humans are potential targets in this day and age, under this leadership.

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#45

Post by spwa4 »

notahacker wrote: post #28
voidUpdate wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is the Outer Space Treaty (1967), which forbids placing "nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner", but you can get around that by saying that it's just a conventional weapon, not nuclear or WMD. If it's for space to space combat, you could say that any weapon is potentially a WMD due to the Kessler potential, but if…

Realistically pretty much anything in orbit is a viable space to space weapon (for related reasons all space propulsion is ITAR controlled) so it was never practical to ban them. Space to earth, maybe, but that isn't unless it hits vague 'WMD' categories, and I'm not sure space to ground is necessarily what the US is declaring here. I suspect whatever capability the US is referring to is far more "counter space" than…

But people want laws to not have to face this, and yet systematically refuse to actually do anything when those laws get violated.

A law is fundamentally what's enforced, not what's on the paper. Which means if countries vote against any kind of enforcement, like happened here, those laws (whether rights or something else) don't exist. And they don't exist because regular people may shout about them (most don't), but they won't actually do anything, which, for most people, means pay for it.

What's worrying is that human rights are definitely on the same train. When you critique this you get an angry retort that for example China commits large scale human rights violations against it's own population, and how unreasonable it is to expect anyone to do anything about it. Okay, but then we don't have human rights, please don't claim otherwise.

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#47

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

porridgeraisin wrote: post #38
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be the point? MAD relies on everyone knowing you can take them out if they attack you. What does a space weapon offer additionally that makes the huge expense worthwhile?

Are you serious? Just because you have nuclear weapons doesn't mean all other forms of military are useless. I don't even know how to parse that argument to respond in more detail.

I was responding to this comment specifically about nukes:

>Everyone is equal with - they all have nukes in space sitting over each other's countries waiting to drop

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#48

Post by aa-jv »

_djo_ wrote: post #36
aa-jv wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>fairly strong evidence Got some?

Sure. https://www.ifri.org/en/studies/current-and-future-trends-ch... https://www.swfound.org/publications-and-reports/2026-global... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01402390.2024.2... https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4431/1 https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Annual_Report/Chapt...

I see a lot of fear-mongering reports from sources claiming authority.

I don't see any evidence.

Re: US confirms for first time it has deployed space weapons

#50

Post by _djo_ »

aa-jv wrote: post #48
_djo_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. https://www.ifri.org/en/studies/current-and-future-trends-ch... https://www.swfound.org/publications-and-reports/2026-global... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01402390.2024.2... https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4431/1 https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Annual_Report/Chapt...

I see a lot of fear-mongering reports from sources claiming authority. I don't see any evidence .

What kind of evidence are you expecting? Detailed photographs of the satellites on orbit?

These are credible institutions, with their statements regarding unusual orbital movements backed up by observations made by several independent groups.

Post reply on HN