4 ms·

Could they shoot down the ISS, if they wanted? Isn't that thing moving insanely fast? haha. Not a space guy but always found it interesting.

• XorNot 4y ago
  ASAT weapons already exist, so most countries could kill the ISS if they wanted.
• ianburrell 4y ago
  The SM-3, which is launched from ships for ballistic missile defense, can be used as anti-satellite missile. Its ceiling is supposed to be 1000 km. Which means could reach ISS. It was tested in 2008 to destroy failed recon satellite.
• vkou 4y ago
  The ISS orbits at ~420 KM. Epotential = mgh = 420,000m * 9.8 m/s^2 * mass ~= 4,200,000 m^2/s^2 * mass To reach that altitude, ignoring air resistance, you'd need kinetic energy, provided by the formula: Ekinetic = (mv^2)/2 Solving for v, we get v = sqrt(8,400,000 m^2/s^2) ~= 2.900 m/s ~= Mach 9 That's the minimum muzzle velocity you need to send a projectile up into the ISS's path (Add a few more mach numbers due to air resistance). It's certainly easier than getting into orbit, a single-stage missile could do it without any trouble.
  • jakeinspace 4y ago
    This calculation is for a ballistic projectile without air resistance. For a missile with a rocket engine, there is no minimum velocity, but you can compute the fuel energy required for the change of altitude. Delta-v isn’t important for a sub-orbital intersection trajectory, although you’ll obviously want your interceptor missile to get there fairly quickly (which will end up being more fuel efficient than a slow climb).