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U.S. Considers Anti-Satellite Laser

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the governmental-boondoggle-you-say dept.

SpaceAdmiral writes "The U.S. government wants to develop a ground-based weapon to shoot down enemy satellites in orbit. The laser will be much more powerful and sophisticated than a similar endeavor a decade ago. From the article: '... some Congressional Democrats and other experts fault the research as potential fuel for an antisatellite arms race that could ultimately hurt this nation more than others because the United States relies so heavily on military satellites, which aid navigation, reconnaissance and attack warning.'"

3 of 511 comments (clear)

  1. Re:And the ultimate defense for a satellite? by e2ka · · Score: 4, Informative

    That probably wouldn't work. Any laser sufficiently powerful enough to destroy a satellite would destroy a mirror too. If the mirror has less than perfect reflectivity it gives the laser something to heat, damaging the mirror and eventually getting through.

  2. The race has begun by gryf · · Score: 5, Informative
    The anti-sat laser race began years ago. Whilst the US was cutting back defense research into all but the most pork laden projects, China was pushing a serious military space strategy. This included new ICMBs, satellite and anti-sat and guidance technology. All very dual use for their manned program, but by comparison we've been looking the other way whistling whilst a non-democratic expansionistic country that tends to threaten our major trading partners and threaten first strike nuclear assaults against the US is building weapons to cripple the US military.

    My response to reading the article: duh!

    Here are some recent articles on the developments in China. The US is not starting this race, but it'd be nice to keep up regardless.

    http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2005-07 -27-china-satellites_x.htm
    http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HD20Ad03.html
    http://www.house.gov/coxreport/chapfs/ch4.html
    http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-01c.html
    http://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/84-no3.htm
    http://www.afio.com/sections/wins/1998/notes48.htm l

    The world is, a dangerous place. As with Sudan and Iran, the UN is no deterrent to aggression. Enlightened self-interest directs us to investigate these types of systems for the same reasons we investigate lethal pathogens. Surviving them requires understanding them even if we never intend to use them.

    --

    #-#
    Ad Astra Per Aspera
    A rough road leads to the stars
  3. Re:The USA needs to be careful here... by Phanatic1a · · Score: 4, Informative

    Militarizing the space in near-earth orbit and creating a military highly dependant on satellites is just stupid.

    Oh, wake the hell up.

    News flash: Reconnaissance satellites are *weapons*. They are also *not new*. They've been around for decades, so space has already been 'militarized.' The Russians had a working anti-satellite program back in the *late 1960s*. We were succesfully killing satellites with missiles back in the mid-80s. The notion that this 'militarization of space' is anything that has its roots in the current administration bespeaks a woeful ignorance of recent history.

    A few missles that blast millions of ball-bearings into to orbit, and the entire planet will be locked out of space for hundreds, or even thousands of years

    No, it wouldn't. There are any number of ways to deal with that scenario, ranging from heavier armored satellites to different target orbits to cheap pop-up satellites that you can launch from submarines and don't have to survive for more than a fraction of an orbit. None of these are as good an option as what we do now, but the suggestion that all someone would have to do to prevent all access to space for millennia is set off a few rockets full of ball-bearings is absolutely ridiculous.