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Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

arstechnica.com

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Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#11

Post by adolph »

dylan604 wrote: post #10
swader999 wrote: post #4

What's going to be there to defend after low earth orbit is saturated with shrapnel from the first battle?

no silly, that's the space shield!

Might a Kessler belt of known quantities eliminate or make harder launch from some areas more than others? (Essentially a space shield?)

The Kessler Syndrome is a phenomenon in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit increases due to space pollution, causing collisions between objects to generate more space debris, increasing the likelihood of further collisions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#12

Post by dylan604 »

adolph wrote: post #11
dylan604 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no silly, that's the space shield!

Might a Kessler belt of known quantities eliminate or make harder launch from some areas more than others? (Essentially a space shield?) The Kessler Syndrome is a phenomenon in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit increases due to space pollution, causing collisions between objects to generate more space debris, increasing the likelihood of further collisions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

It'll just bring in a whole new meaning to the term launch window. Not only do you have to wait to launch your new thing for the orbital mechanics to work to your favor, but you'll also have to wait for the opening in the space shield to align as well.

Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#15

Post by bryanlarsen »

swader999 wrote: post #4

What's going to be there to defend after low earth orbit is saturated with shrapnel from the first battle?

Creating a Kessler cascade is almost impossible for the Starlinks in 340km orbit. It's possible but very difficult for the 550km orbit. 550km orbit technically takes a few years to naturally deorbit, but ASAT weapons create small debris and eccentric orbits, drastically decreasing the deorbit time.

Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#16

Post by swader999 »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #15
swader999 wrote: post #4

What's going to be there to defend after low earth orbit is saturated with shrapnel from the first battle?

Creating a Kessler cascade is almost impossible for the Starlinks in 340km orbit. It's possible but very difficult for the 550km orbit. 550km orbit technically takes a few years to naturally deorbit, but ASAT weapons create small debris and eccentric orbits, drastically decreasing the deorbit time.

Fascinating. How would a country defend against this sort of attack?

Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#17

Post by beambot »

josefresco wrote: post #6

> The questioner specifically asked how the US military might respond if Russia attacked SpaceX's Starlink broadband network > Saltzman didn't directly address the scenario posed in the question > In a modern war, "there are going to be commercial entities, commercial organizations, commercial capabilities and assets that get caught up in the conflicts," Saltzman said. "Space is no different than sea lanes. It’s no d…

TLDR: It's the high seas -- some cross-section of maritime law & piracy. Presumably, this means that SpaceX can & should actively defend themselves too?

Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#18

Post by morkalork »

swader999 wrote: post #16
bryanlarsen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creating a Kessler cascade is almost impossible for the Starlinks in 340km orbit. It's possible but very difficult for the 550km orbit. 550km orbit technically takes a few years to naturally deorbit, but ASAT weapons create small debris and eccentric orbits, drastically decreasing the deorbit time.

Fascinating. How would a country defend against this sort of attack?

With a stockpile of their own anti-sat weapons and the threat of MAD.

Re: Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

#19

Post by bryanlarsen »

swader999 wrote: post #16
bryanlarsen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creating a Kessler cascade is almost impossible for the Starlinks in 340km orbit. It's possible but very difficult for the 550km orbit. 550km orbit technically takes a few years to naturally deorbit, but ASAT weapons create small debris and eccentric orbits, drastically decreasing the deorbit time.

Fascinating. How would a country defend against this sort of attack?

Starlink doesn't need defending. It's too low to cause Kessler, and big enough that the loss of a small number of satellites is inconsequential.

It's a different story for pretty much every other satellite, though. GPS, for example.

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