UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space

Re:UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space by ChuckMcM on Thursday July 23, 2020 @05:34PM (#23932537)

I don't disagree. I think the DOD argument for the X-37B would be to argue "its just a transportation system."

That said, given what has been reported in the press about the capabilities of the X-37B, it would seem they might have it transport a payload to sit around nearby and actively video/watch what such things are doing.

My favorite unconventional idea for an anti-satellite device is a small maneuverable can of spray paint that paints the surface of any solar panels of the satellite it "attacks" with an opaque paint. Don't create shrapnel, just take away its source of power.

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Re:UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space by dingaling on Friday July 24, 2020 @02:49AM (#23936519)

Project SAINT in the 1960s looked at some non-destructive ASAT techniques such as spraying paint over camera ports. The idea being that it would be a deniable, non-escalating type of attack.

However the technology required to manoeuvre that closely to the target was more sophisticated than a stand-off kinetic attack, which was also less detectable in execution.

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Re:UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space by ChuckMcM on Friday July 24, 2020 @11:15AM (#23940460)

Interesting, now that we have the maneuver operations covered in cube sats with ion drives, I wonder if someone will re-open that investigation.

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