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Neither could destroy SpaceX satellites as fast as they can be launched. No State can. The issue would be whether they could cause enough damage to make the or

Neither could destroy SpaceX satellites as fast as they can be launched. No State can. The issue would be whether they could cause enough damage to make the orbital plane (temporarily) unusable.

bpodgursky 4y ago
The Starlink orbit is low enough that it would only be unusable for a year or so I'd imagine. Small debris will drop out quite fast.
FpUser 4y ago
Are those protected from EMP that can kill scores at once?
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  The point of Starship is to launch hundreds at once, several times a week if it goes as planned (that's a few years away.) Forget Mars colonization, the only practical use for such a booster is to fight a war in LEO.
- closewith 4y ago
  There's currently more than 3,000 satellites in the constellation. Killing scores or even hundreds isn't enough. The only known EMP weapons that could really impact the constellation is nuclear, and at that point, knocking out Starlink is the least of our worries.
42e6e8c8-f7b8-4 4y ago
I think a laser mounted on one of their satellites could get the job done. Their militaries may even have that already.
gpm 4y ago
They have directed energy weapons that could probably destroy individual satellites one at a time faster than they could be launched.
- closewith 4y ago
  Who does? I think there's a [citation needed] for this claim.
  - gpm 4y ago
    China does. The probably is there for a reason though, the exact extent of their capabilities is unclear. Here's a citation: https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapons-and-counterspace-applications/ https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapo...
    - closewith 4y ago
      That's rumour, not a citation. Maybe I'm wrong and directed energy weapons can destroy thousands of satellites in LEO, but it's never been demonstrated by any nation.
      - gpm 4y ago
        It's a citation that they have them, which is all I claimed definitively. If I could cite the part of the statement after "probably", there wouldn't be a "probably" there. I would not call it rumors. If you'd like a more authoritative citation, here is a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency, i.e. US military) report cited in the article I cited above: https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Power_Publications/Challenges_Security_Space_2022.pdf https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Powe...
        jcampbell1 4y ago
        Go read page 24. It doesn’t say what you are claiming.
        gpm 4y ago
        Page 24 definitely doesn't, it's about Russia. Page 17 on the other hand > During the past two decades, Chinese defense research has proposed the development of several reversible and nonreversible counterspace DEWs for reversible dazzling of electro-optical sensors and even potentially destroying satellite components. China has multiple ground-based laser weapons of varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites that include a current limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors. By the mid- to late-2020s, China may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of nonoptical satellites. The discussion of current capabilities is primarily about optical satellites (though it can be read to include other components), but it probably applies to giant sensitive phased array antennas too.
smachiz 4y ago
They could absolutely destroy them fast enough. The also only need to destroy them fast enough that SpaceX finds it economically infeasible to continue launching them or blocking them themselves. I also think that both countries could launch geosync satellites or using existing geosync satellites to just generate a shitton of noise on whatever spectrum Starlink would use. Starlink of course won't get a license for spectrum in either country.
- closewith 4y ago
  What mechanism do you believe they could use to destroy the hundred of satellites necessary to destroy the constellation?

Neither could destroy SpaceX satellites as fast as they can be launched. No State can. The issue would be whether they could cause enough damage to make the orbital plane (temporarily) unusable.

bpodgursky 4y ago

The Starlink orbit is low enough that it would only be unusable for a year or so I'd imagine. Small debris will drop out quite fast.

FpUser 4y ago

Are those protected from EMP that can kill scores at once?

MichaelCollins 4y ago
The point of Starship is to launch hundreds at once, several times a week if it goes as planned (that's a few years away.) Forget Mars colonization, the only practical use for such a booster is to fight a war in LEO.
closewith 4y ago
There's currently more than 3,000 satellites in the constellation. Killing scores or even hundreds isn't enough. The only known EMP weapons that could really impact the constellation is nuclear, and at that point, knocking out Starlink is the least of our worries.

42e6e8c8-f7b8-4 4y ago

I think a laser mounted on one of their satellites could get the job done. Their militaries may even have that already.

gpm 4y ago

They have directed energy weapons that could probably destroy individual satellites one at a time faster than they could be launched.

closewith 4y ago
Who does? I think there's a [citation needed] for this claim.
- gpm 4y ago
  China does. The probably is there for a reason though, the exact extent of their capabilities is unclear. Here's a citation: https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapons-and-counterspace-applications/ https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapo...
  - closewith 4y ago
    That's rumour, not a citation. Maybe I'm wrong and directed energy weapons can destroy thousands of satellites in LEO, but it's never been demonstrated by any nation.
    - gpm 4y ago
      It's a citation that they have them, which is all I claimed definitively. If I could cite the part of the statement after "probably", there wouldn't be a "probably" there. I would not call it rumors. If you'd like a more authoritative citation, here is a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency, i.e. US military) report cited in the article I cited above: https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Power_Publications/Challenges_Security_Space_2022.pdf https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Powe...
      - jcampbell1 4y ago
        Go read page 24. It doesn’t say what you are claiming.
        gpm 4y ago
        Page 24 definitely doesn't, it's about Russia. Page 17 on the other hand > During the past two decades, Chinese defense research has proposed the development of several reversible and nonreversible counterspace DEWs for reversible dazzling of electro-optical sensors and even potentially destroying satellite components. China has multiple ground-based laser weapons of varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites that include a current limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors. By the mid- to late-2020s, China may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of nonoptical satellites. The discussion of current capabilities is primarily about optical satellites (though it can be read to include other components), but it probably applies to giant sensitive phased array antennas too.

smachiz 4y ago

They could absolutely destroy them fast enough. The also only need to destroy them fast enough that SpaceX finds it economically infeasible to continue launching them or blocking them themselves. I also think that both countries could launch geosync satellites or using existing geosync satellites to just generate a shitton of noise on whatever spectrum Starlink would use. Starlink of course won't get a license for spectrum in either country.

closewith 4y ago
What mechanism do you believe they could use to destroy the hundred of satellites necessary to destroy the constellation?