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There's no stealth in space. Any sort of running electronics or photovoltaics will emit heat that can be easily picked up by spaceborne sensors. The strategic a
by philwelch 3y ago
There's no stealth in space. Any sort of running electronics or photovoltaics will emit heat that can be easily picked up by spaceborne sensors. The strategic advantage for military satellites is going to be the fact that Starship can launch literal orders of magnitude more of them than the launch systems of rival countries, not the fact that they're painted black and thus marginally harder to spot from the ground with Mk. I Eyeball.
- georgeg23 3y agoIs there a good reference on tracking satellites from their thermal signature? Couldn't find anything.
- philwelch 3y agoThis is the most comprehensive debunking I’ve seen of the “stealth in space” concept: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.php#nostealth http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.... This is one of the classic online nerd arguments, much of which is documented there. I’m a little terrified of reigniting the whole thing here and now to be honest, but if people want to get into it, have fun.
- George83728 3y agoSBIRS is intended to use infrared to track ballistic missiles through all stages of flight, including decoys and debris released during the mid-course phase in space (so we know it's meant to be extremely sensitive, not limited to tracking hot rocket engines during the boost phase) Seems like a good bet that orbital systems with such sensors could be used to track LEO satellites too.