Shuto
Purple Belt
link
I just read this article about attacking satellites and I found it very informative. I am well aware of the shoot down based weapons that some countries have experimented with but this link talks about other strategies that may be just as effective and which I never considered.
A few unconnected excerpts.
The reality is different from the conventional wisdom, according to knowledgeable space experts and former intelligence officials. They say the United States already has an anti-satellite capability just not the kind that China displayed in January.
Rather than a kinetic approach, say officials and experts, the United States has adopted a method that relies on spy satellites most vulnerable aspect: the need for constant housekeeping from the ground.
The technology is not new. The Soviet Union first employed such interference against the United States more than 30 years ago along with their own kinetic ASATs.
Intelligence experts described a success the United States had with what is a basic but not kinetic strategy. In November 1990, the Pentagon launched an experimental and highly classified satellite nicknamed "Prowler" on the space shuttle Atlantis.
According to one expert's account, Prowler stealthily maneuvered close to Russian and presumably other nations communications satellites in high Earth orbit, 24,000 miles (38,400 kilometers) up. Such satellites are ideal targets. They are at much higher altitudes and are thus difficult to track visually. Many key military satellites are in this orbit relay satellites that transmit the imagery from spy satellites as well as military communications satellites, weather satellites, and electronic eavesdropping satellites that target terrestrial microwave communications.
I just read this article about attacking satellites and I found it very informative. I am well aware of the shoot down based weapons that some countries have experimented with but this link talks about other strategies that may be just as effective and which I never considered.
A few unconnected excerpts.
The reality is different from the conventional wisdom, according to knowledgeable space experts and former intelligence officials. They say the United States already has an anti-satellite capability just not the kind that China displayed in January.
Rather than a kinetic approach, say officials and experts, the United States has adopted a method that relies on spy satellites most vulnerable aspect: the need for constant housekeeping from the ground.
The technology is not new. The Soviet Union first employed such interference against the United States more than 30 years ago along with their own kinetic ASATs.
Intelligence experts described a success the United States had with what is a basic but not kinetic strategy. In November 1990, the Pentagon launched an experimental and highly classified satellite nicknamed "Prowler" on the space shuttle Atlantis.
According to one expert's account, Prowler stealthily maneuvered close to Russian and presumably other nations communications satellites in high Earth orbit, 24,000 miles (38,400 kilometers) up. Such satellites are ideal targets. They are at much higher altitudes and are thus difficult to track visually. Many key military satellites are in this orbit relay satellites that transmit the imagery from spy satellites as well as military communications satellites, weather satellites, and electronic eavesdropping satellites that target terrestrial microwave communications.
