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>Starlink is always 1 missile away from being turned off though One missile going into space will trigger every single ICBM early warning system on the planet.

>Starlink is always 1 missile away from being turned off though One missile going into space will trigger every single ICBM early warning system on the planet. And since Starlink is not one system but thousands, trying to disable their backbone functionality would seem like a nuclear first strike. Yes, some countries could probably do it. But you can't do it without being seen, so the risk and possible ramifications are infinitely higher than for undersee cables.

bilbo0s 3y ago
One missile going into space will trigger every single ICBM warning system on the planet. Most of the world's great powers don't need to fire a missile into space to take out a satellite. They've already lifted that capability into orbit. I don't believe any of those powers would take out satellites willy nilly. I think it would take open direct military conflict. At the same time though, I didn't believe any of them would 'cross the Rubicon' with respect to undersea pipelines and internet cables either without direct open military conflict. So, yeah. Gonna be fun times in the future I guess?
- 4gotunameagain 3y ago
  > They've already lifted that capability into orbit. source ?
ceejayoz 3y ago
> One missile going into space will trigger every single ICBM early warning system on the planet. Rockets go into space all the time without triggering accidental nuclear war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 IIRC was blown up in an ASAT weapons test without any advance warning; nukes headed to DC/Moscow have a very different flight path than one looking to hit a Starlink node.
- sigmoid10 3y ago
  Of course they don't trigger nuclear war, that wasn't the point. The point is that they trigger detection systems. We know exactly what happened to Kosmos 1408, including all actors and events, down to every minute. We even have a Wikipedia article listing all those details that you were able to dig up easily. Compare that to the undersee cables that got cut, where we will probably never know exactly what happened. If we cought someone red handed while destroying critical infrastructure, that would be a pretty good casus belli.
  - ceejayoz 3y ago
    > If we cought someone red handed while destroying critical infrastructure, that would be a pretty good casus belli. We're not going to go to war because someone openly took out a Starlink node to send Musk a message. Not unless we were already going to do it for other reasons.
    - serf 3y ago
      I find that hard to believe. It's not that it's a message to Elon; that would be a message of air supremacy to the entire world. There is no way that wouldn't provoke a pretty drastic reaction of some sort from groups that seek to hold the title of 'owners of the sky'.
      - ceejayoz 3y ago
        Case in point: Russians have taken down US drones in recent months. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/politics/us-military-video-drone-russian-jet/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/politics/us-military-video-dr... No war. We send a grumpy note to their ambassador and just consider it a minor acceptable consequence of obliterating significant chunks of their armed forces in a proxy war elsewhere.
        sigmoid10 3y ago
        These US drones were operating in a theatre of war. Things would turn sour very quickly if they shot down civilian critical infrastructure far away from active warzones.

bilbo0s 3y ago

One missile going into space will trigger every single ICBM warning system on the planet. Most of the world's great powers don't need to fire a missile into space to take out a satellite. They've already lifted that capability into orbit. I don't believe any of those powers would take out satellites willy nilly. I think it would take open direct military conflict. At the same time though, I didn't believe any of them would 'cross the Rubicon' with respect to undersea pipelines and internet cables either without direct open military conflict. So, yeah. Gonna be fun times in the future I guess?

4gotunameagain 3y ago
> They've already lifted that capability into orbit. source ?

ceejayoz 3y ago

> One missile going into space will trigger every single ICBM early warning system on the planet. Rockets go into space all the time without triggering accidental nuclear war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 IIRC was blown up in an ASAT weapons test without any advance warning; nukes headed to DC/Moscow have a very different flight path than one looking to hit a Starlink node.

sigmoid10 3y ago
Of course they don't trigger nuclear war, that wasn't the point. The point is that they trigger detection systems. We know exactly what happened to Kosmos 1408, including all actors and events, down to every minute. We even have a Wikipedia article listing all those details that you were able to dig up easily. Compare that to the undersee cables that got cut, where we will probably never know exactly what happened. If we cought someone red handed while destroying critical infrastructure, that would be a pretty good casus belli.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  > If we cought someone red handed while destroying critical infrastructure, that would be a pretty good casus belli. We're not going to go to war because someone openly took out a Starlink node to send Musk a message. Not unless we were already going to do it for other reasons.
  - serf 3y ago
    I find that hard to believe. It's not that it's a message to Elon; that would be a message of air supremacy to the entire world. There is no way that wouldn't provoke a pretty drastic reaction of some sort from groups that seek to hold the title of 'owners of the sky'.
    - ceejayoz 3y ago
      Case in point: Russians have taken down US drones in recent months. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/politics/us-military-video-drone-russian-jet/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/politics/us-military-video-dr... No war. We send a grumpy note to their ambassador and just consider it a minor acceptable consequence of obliterating significant chunks of their armed forces in a proxy war elsewhere.
      - sigmoid10 3y ago
        These US drones were operating in a theatre of war. Things would turn sour very quickly if they shot down civilian critical infrastructure far away from active warzones.