kidme5

The SpaceX ICBM interceptor stuff used to be whispered, but now it looks like it's openly advertised. Wonder what SpaceX employees think?

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2811927/trump-propos... It's now part of the official GOP platform (number 8).

Ironically Elon's been blocking anyone who talks about his missile programs,

https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/1fnvt8n/elo...

Main points from the link:

Trump has been pitching a reboot of Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative using Elon's Starlink. At least publically since his reelection campaign: "the United States will build a missile defense shield to intercept nuclear weapons" https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/donald-trump-pla... It's also in Project 2025 / Heritage Foundation docs.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 with help of a CIA agent named Mike Griffin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Griffin#Career ) who funneled them funding (lots of citations at end of https://archive.ph/D2zIG ). Griffin worked for In-Q-Tel and also was the Deputy of Technology for the Strategic Defense Initiative, later started the Space Development Agency (SDA) which is to become Trump's SDI in 2025.

The quantum "threat" is a great excuse to get everyone to adopt new backdoors. If you use these it better be enveloped in a more trustworthy encryption.

Great podcast, also Russia will just stage nukes in orbit so they can't be intercepted during their vulnerable boost phase. In fact they recently built this capability to do so.

Some choice excerpts:

- Since Reagan’s SDI program, the Republican think-tank Heritage Foundation (wrote Project 2025) has advocated for spaced-based weapons to “ensure peace through American strength”. In 2024, Heritage issued video clips and new publications calling for a spaced-based interceptor “overlayer” as part of an “impenetrable missile defense shield” based on Starlink. In 2022, the former Trump Administration director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo explicitly called their new effort for space-based missile defenses “Strategic Defense Initiative II”.

- Gwynne Shotwell, was asked at a U.S. Air Force symposium in 2018 whether SpaceX would launch offensive weapons into orbit, to which she answered, “If it’s for the defense of this country, yes, I think we would”.

- President Donald Trump has strongly encouraged putting offensive weapons in space. As part of his 2024 reelection campaign announcement, Trump said “the United States must also build a state of the art next-generation missile defense shield to protect from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons.” and he said that “we actually have the technology and we’re going to build it.” Trump has also said that space-based interceptors will be a “very big part of our defense and obviously of our offense.”

- Mike Griffin, offered the SpaceX CTO role by Elon, was previously the Deputy of Technology at Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. he created the Space Development Agency which funds satellites focused on communication, missile detection and tracking, Griffin and others have said that including space-based interceptor weapons in later layers will be "relatively easy" as he now works with SpaceX employees and major primes on re-entry warheads. The SDA expects to field and maintain a constellation of at least 1,000 satellites in orbit by 2026.

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Some people want to win bigly again. Nukes have been stopping that.

the sad thing is Starlink satellites have a significant impact on one of the scariest human threats-- nuclear war.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1dgyujd/comment/l8...

username "addicted" eh?

Mars was debunked by Elon's own xAI https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1dgyujd/comment/l8...

Kessler Syndrome is the main problem with Elon's plan to build a nuclear defense shield in LEO

according to Grok: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1dgyujd/comment/l8...

The idea that "DARPA is incompetent" because they promote hair-brained ideas, is one of their biggest ruses. Of course they're competent.

Corollary: Elon Musk https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1dgyujd/comment/l8...

This may give some insight on the creepiness you sense, it involves DARPA https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-ma...

post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40628584

$10k.. peanuts. Elon might lose $500B to his xAI mistake that came out today:

https://grook.ai/share?id=e269e88a7b1a71eff4f176c864b30161&x...

Yes, SpaceX is said to be developing something more akin to Brilliant Pebbles, eventually using kinetic interceptors like https://castelion.com is developing. (team at company are all SpaceX starshield people). Intercepts ICBM in "boost phase" launching from enemy territory (vulnerable / no decoys possible). Mike Griffin is Castelion advisor (enough said) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Griffin#Career

If you're going to downvote, please explain any disagreement with the references.

Original leak via xAI: https://grook.ai/share?id=e269e88a7b1a71eff4f176c864b30161

Quotes & citations:

- Nature study on Mars being infeasible with Starship: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54012-0

- Gwynne Shotwell, asked whether SpaceX would launch offensive weapons into orbit, to which she answered, “If it’s for the defense of this country, yes, I think we would” https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/09/spacex-well-co...

- U.S. government to develop space-based missile defense: https://www.science.org/content/article/decades-after-reagan...

- Political speech on constructing a new Strategic Defense Initiative: "we will build a shield in space to protect our people from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons" https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/donald-trump-pla...

- Shield overlayer "would put around 1,000 networked microsatellites in orbit that would serve as both sensors and communication relays, as well as platforms for launching interceptors." https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/time-new-missile-def... SHIELD overlayer

that blog post is all they have so not much to worry about company wise

Elon did say it was pronounced grōk.

Apparently Grooks are satirical poems used for covert political resistance. So that is a good fit.

Musk offered the Chief Engineer title to Michael D. Griffin who is discussed elsewhere in this hackernews post. That was mentioned in Liftoff. Griffin basically felt he could pull more strings in Washington.

Sin tax?

Feels like intentional bury. The OP about Space Development Agency is a big deal.

Haven't we already been through this with the advent of Google?

They (launcher of nuke) can use satellites to track their own missile and the interceptor.

Also separately, communication/radar works fine through reentry plasma once you go up to 20-50 GHz frequency.

The end of this story (paying taxes on $7500 winnings) seems to be hinting at something. Is the message that of course nobody follows all the rules? (Pays those gift taxes)

The nuke could always be programmed to actually detonate if it encounters an interceptor AND is within X distance of target territory. In which case, it is an atmospheric nuclear explosion probably with EMP effects.

This is one reason people stress missile defense that hits the nuke immediately over their launch site (boost phase).

For NK that might mean interceptor UAVs hovering off the Korean coast or ships. But for Russia or China it means a Starlink-style system with hypersonic interceptors staged in orbit around the globe.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Development_Agency

This obviously has tons of flaws though. It would cause a feedback increase in nuclear stockpiling to counteract the fraction intercepted to ensure MAD.

Asking because of the renewed interest in a global missile defense system by the US? https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Development_Agency

Lots of references in there, some seem to answer your question.