Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

Re:Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers by cogman10 on Monday March 17, 2025 @06:52PM (#43393561)

While you probably can't target a cigarette butt on the street, you could definitely hit a building. Especially if the ICBM is paired with image recognition (which it has already for star nav) and/or backup positioning mechanisms like cell tower locations or well-known broadcasting tower locations (think television stations).

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Re:Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers by echoangle on Monday March 17, 2025 @07:02PM (#43393634)

An ICBM is coming in at hypersonic speeds in the terminal phase, you’re not going to guide it anywhere using cell tower signals. The guidance is done much earlier.

And I would doubt image recognition for ground features would make it that accurate, too. Before reentry, you’re very high and fast and reentry isn’t that predictable to get you accurate enough to hit a house. And during reentry, you’re not going to see anything though plasma. And after reentry, you probably don’t have enough time and control authority to still guide into a specific house.

ICBM guidance is very different from cruise missiles.

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Re:Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers by alienthrowaway on Monday March 17, 2025 @07:33PM (#43393909)

> An ICBM is coming in at hypersonic speeds in the terminal phase, you’re not going to guide it anywhere using cell tower signals.

Hypersonic glide ICBMs have been successfully tested by China, and are under development in the US, so it's entirely possible to maneuver, and optionally guide them in the terminal, though perhaps not advisable on a jammable channel, except perhaps as an anti-radiation weapon.

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Re:Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers by datadrivenangel on Monday March 17, 2025 @07:32PM (#43393898)

Yeah that would work for drones and slow cruise missiles but not ICBMs.

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