3 ms·
> You only need to pop up to 300 miles, hang in space for a moment, and let the satellite crash into you. In the article's scenario, that's 300 miles and an in
by gwern 5y ago
> You only need to pop up to 300 miles, hang in space for a moment, and let the satellite crash into you.
In the article's scenario, that's 300 miles and an indefinite timespan where you're being continuously burned by a megawatt to gigawatt-class laser that can penetrate meters-of-amor per second.
- PaulHoule 5y agoAn ASAT weapon is pretty small. It can be launched from a small platform like a fighter jet and produces nowhere near as much light and heat as an orbital rocket or an ICBM. Most likely it hits you before you know what hit you.
- gwern 5y agoIf there's one thing I've learned from ToughSF & Project Rho, is that you'd better run the numbers before you say anything like "a missile boosting into orbit will be hard to see and hit you before a laser reduces it to smithereens".