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Sooner or later the US Government will realize the Starship will be a good launching vehicle for the ballistic missile defense. Currently a midcourse ground bas
by credit_guy 4y ago
Sooner or later the US Government will realize the Starship will be a good launching vehicle for the ballistic missile defense. Currently a midcourse ground base interceptor booster [1] weighs more than 20 tons, costs a few tens of millions, and carries one single kill vehicle [2] that weighs about 64 kg.
A single Starship would be able to carry more than 1000 such kill vehicles. If Russia launches a few hundred missiles at the US, a couple Starships could send multiple kill vehicle against each Russian warhead.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoatmospheric_Kill_Vehicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoatmospheric_Kill_Vehicle
- plazmatic 4y ago
- georgeg23 4y agoSpaceX already has contracts for a Missile Defense Shield (w/ SDA, now part of Space Force). Govt program was started by Mike Griffin-- one of the early founders of Strategic Defense Initiative, space kill vehicles, and SpaceX itself. His history with Elon is fascinating. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Griffin#Career https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Griffin#Career
- kidme5 4y agoI thought SpaceX is just building thermal imaging satellites for tracking ballistic missiles, but agree it's obvious just the first step to orbital weapons for interception. Yes that's the plan. Sounds like Biden Admin wasn't a fan of Star Wars and has been slowing Elon down.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#Military_capabilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#Military_capabilities
- georgeg23 4y agoCorrect
- pclmulqdq 4y agoIt has to get off the ground first.
- bryanlarsen 4y agoNobody doubts it'll get off the ground, which is all you need for the OP's proposal. Catching the second stage with chopsticks, though...
- jltsiren 4y agoThree things: 1) That way you would have a single Starship launching a single kill vehicle in more than 1000 pieces. In order to be truly independent, each kill vehicle needs significant delta-v on its own, which lowers the number of kill vehicles by two orders of magnitude. 2) Starship has pretty weak engines for this task. While the missile used to launch the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle reaches ~10 km/s in less than 4 minutes, Starship launch profile suggests 8 km/s in ~9 minutes. When a nuclear strike is incoming, you don't have those minutes to waste. 3) Starship uses liquid fuel, which means it can't wait on the launchpad ready to launch at a moment's notice very long. Missiles use solid fuels for a reason.
- georgeg23 4y agoThe kill vehicles are staged in orbit just like Starlink satellites.. See Brilliant Pebbles.
- wmf 4y agoI think there's a consensus that orbital weapons are bad.
- GekkePrutser 4y agoEven if they're defensive weapons only? I think Reagan's star wars program was cancelled only because the Russian threat was not as big anymore. Not because of weapons in space concerns. FWIW only WMDs are really banned in space.
- georgeg23 4y agoDemocrats / Clinton shut down the original Star Wars program because they favored arms control (arguing Star Wars was illegal under the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty) That treaty expired in 2002 and then Elon went to Russia to buy some ICBMs...
- Throwawayaerlei 4y ago
- mastax 4y agoHistorically, liquid fueled (cryogenic) vehicles have not been suitable for these kinds of missions because they take a long time to fuel and they can't be fueled ahead of time because the fuel boils off.
- ngcc_hk 4y agoWhy Russia, china or even North Korea cannot do that as well.