4 ms·
ICBMs aren't uniformly randomly distributed across the globe, though. You would only need to cover a few selected orbital inclinations, corresponding to the lat
by burnerthrow008 3y ago
ICBMs aren't uniformly randomly distributed across the globe, though. You would only need to cover a few selected orbital inclinations, corresponding to the latitude of the launch sites (albeit with a large number of RAs, but probably nothing more than what SpaceX already does for Starlink).
The calculus is even better for the most-probable launch scenario, over-the-pole, since all the high-inclination interceptor orbits will converge in the same region as the ICBMs.
For SBLMs the calculus is theoretically a bit less favorable, but most of Russia's SSNs will be in the Arctic Ocean anyway to avoid USN attack submarines.
- raisedbyninjas 3y agoICBM boost phase only lasts about four minutes. Detection takes a minute or two. LEO orbit time is as low as 90 minutes, so you need at least 45 satellites orbiting the desired location to reach a single missile in time. This doesn't include orbit drift or account for the chances of the interceptor missing.
- wmf 3y agoInterceptors don't go into orbit at all.