2 ms·

Mega constellations could prevent other nations from entering space just by blocking launch windows or hell equip them with energy or kinetic weapons a group ca

• nordsieck 3y ago
  > Mega constellations could prevent other nations from entering space just by blocking launch windows I suspect that the reason stuff like this gets traction is because of the current crop of satellite visualizations. Most of them make it look like Earth is absolutely blanketed in satellites. But that's primarily a pixel size limitation - it's not possible to show how small satellites actually are in a reasonably sized image. If you think about it logically - there are a couple thousand cars in orbit: what percent of the surface does that cover? Not much - that doesn't even cover much of a 2nd tier city. And they have very predictable trajectories. In short, yes - it's theoretically possible. But not a realistic concern. Especially with current launch prices. One of the only reasons Starlink is so big is because SpaceX gets to launch at cost instead of at market price.
• lupusreal 3y ago
  E.g. Brilliant Pebbles, many thousands of kinetic interceptors in LEO to deny space to the enemy. But using it would be WW3; we'd have bigger things to worry about then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Pebbles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Pebbles