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Chinese Lasers Blind US Satelites

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the do-not-look-directly-into-laser-beam-with-your-remaining-eye dept.

SniperClops writes, "China has fired high-power lasers at U.S. spy satellites flying over its territory in what experts see as a test of Chinese ability to blind the spacecraft, according to sources." The article mentions the reluctance of the U.S. administration to talk about this "asymmetric" effort by the Chinese military.

3 of 739 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What I really want to know... by phil+reed · · Score: 5, Informative
    but how far up does China own the space above it?

    Wikipedia article on the Outer Space Treaty

    --

    ...phil
    "For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
  2. Re:What I really want to know... by vtcodger · · Score: 5, Informative
    *** If I built a spy satellite and orbitted it over the united states I would be a terrorist and bombed in seconds.***

    The Russians operated a multitude of surveillance satellites over the US in the 1960s-1980s. They still do I believe. As do the Chinese. As do, I believe, others. Almost all reconisiance sattelites should be able to "spy" on the US should their owners be so inclined.

    If anyone cares enough to try to figure out exactly how many surveillence satellites are in orbit, here's a link to the Union Of Concerned Scientists sattelite database

    --
    You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
  3. An interesting difference in article vs blurb by paranode · · Score: 5, Informative

    The blurb says that they did blind the US satellite, whereas the article says they merely attempted to and that "It remains unclear how many times the ground-based laser was tested against U.S. spacecraft or whether it was successful." Good old hype.