Re:Nearly 1 in 3 Starlink satellites detected within the SKA...
by m4rtink on Wednesday August 13, 2025 @12:21PM
(#44890466)
The exact claim might have been false, but at least i theory it could do this maneuver from orbit - e.g. during a regular space hab or satellite lunch mission it could dipp into the atmosphere, do a rapid oebit inclination chang using its wings, then boost back to orbit using the OMS. Next thing it would deliver the "totally science experiments" on the way to their targets once comming over the horizon. Maybe it could then even do the manuever again to either regain the old orbit parameters ir at least reach a more surivable random other one.
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Re:Nearly 1 in 3 Starlink satellites detected within the SKA...
by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday August 13, 2025 @06:57PM
(#44894862)
> at least i theory it could do this maneuver from orbit
Nukes from LEO aren't impossible. They're just impossible to do better than the current triad. Any breakthrough in propulsion that would make a plane change easier or less visible confers the same advantages to an ICBM. There is a narrow window in which orbital nuking can outperform, and that's almost entirely taken care of--and exceeded, in stealth--by SLBMs.
Re:Nearly 1 in 3 Starlink satellites detected within the SKA...
by throwaway290 on Thursday August 14, 2025 @02:12AM
(#44897242)
Nuking from orbit was not literal. The point of sats is intercepting. Sats allow you to nuke the other guy while intercepting his rockets. Same result...
Re:Nearly 1 in 3 Starlink satellites detected within the SKA...
by JumpCrisscross on Thursday August 14, 2025 @03:19AM
(#44897656)
> The point of sats is intercepting. Sats allow you to nuke the other guy while intercepting his rockets
Space-based missile defence is not what’s implied by weapons that are “already up” and thus “give a lot less warning in a first strike situation?”