Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

Post by bdamm » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 1:20 AM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #13

nine_k wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't be surprised if a military satellite of any state capable of launching military satellites will self-destruct if taken away forcibly from the designated orbit. A simple acceleration test would suffice. I also won't be surprised if when self-destructing, such satellite will try to deliberately damage everything in its close vicinity.

I don’t think they make boobytrapped satellites that explode, but they may remotely activate a self-destruct process which renders abduction pointless. If they exploded it wouldn’t it create more problems than it solves in terms of more flying debris they have to track as well as friendlies in the same orbital path? (Like when Iridium 33 crashed into a defunct soviet satellite.)

Post by egdod » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 1:22 AM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #20

Tuxer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Space isn't like a highway where you can move from A to B at minimal expense. Switching orbits, both orbit heights but mainly orbit inclinations, comes at a very high delta-V expense and therefore propellant expense, which this craft simply doesn't have the volume to hold. This cannot shuttle between LEO stations and switch orbits to imitate multiple observation sats unless those sats and stations are very close in t…

people who haven't played kerbal space program (with mechjeb for data) usually don't fully understand how expensive, in terms of delta V, a large inclination change maneuver is.

Post by papito » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 1:26 AM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #13

nine_k wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't be surprised if a military satellite of any state capable of launching military satellites will self-destruct if taken away forcibly from the designated orbit. A simple acceleration test would suffice. I also won't be surprised if when self-destructing, such satellite will try to deliberately damage everything in its close vicinity.

I don’t think they make boobytrapped satellites that explode, but they may remotely activate a self-destruct process which renders abduction pointless. If they exploded it wouldn’t it create more problems than it solves in terms of more flying debris they have to track as well as friendlies in the same orbital path? (Like when Iridium 33 crashed into a defunct soviet satellite.)

Post by jonathankoren » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 1:34 AM UTC

bdamm wrote: post #21

mc32 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think they make boobytrapped satellites that explode, but they may remotely activate a self-destruct process which renders abduction pointless. If they exploded it wouldn’t it create more problems than it solves in terms of more flying debris they have to track as well as friendlies in the same orbital path? (Like when Iridium 33 crashed into a defunct soviet satellite.)

I also don’t think the attack would involve changing orbits. The attack would be inserting electronic backdoor etc.

Post by themodelplumber » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 1:41 AM UTC

Herodotus38 wrote: post #24

https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=1... Here is an impressive photograph that an amateur astronomer took in June/July of this year.