Fact or Fiction Satellite DEWs ?

[Opah]

No I saw the documentary of Capt. Sparrow sailing to the worlds edge. Remarkable footage !
What about the surveillance of your phone, computers your google, siri, face book and tweeter accounts.
I'm sure that is all conspiracy hype ?
Question:
how may of us have tape over the camera on our computers and lap tops ?
It is all hype or conspiracy theory until it comes knocking at your front door, Stupid is as stupid does

 

[Marbles]

I'm not a spaceologist but wouldn't think a warhead would be needed when a kinetic lance moving at a bajilliondy miles an hour in a vacuum would work just as well...

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades..... but a kinetic bludgeon, moving at 60 mph, to the pterion can kill pretty reliably so hand grenades are not needed.

 

[GotDraw?]

@Marbles: Proximity warheads to destroy satellites are NO bueno.

Why? Because a proximity-fused warhead targeting a satellite creates thousands of pieces of orbiting space debris moving at 10,000mph that lasts for decades and will kill more satellites, creating more debris, killing more satellites. Even a piece as small that letters on this page at 10,000 mph can kill a satellite.

Everyone (including the geniuses in China) figured that one out after the Chinese, in a genius move to prove their space superiority, shot a missile at one of their own satellites and blew it to smithereens. That fiasco still has thousands of pieces of space debris in orbit that can randomly kill satellites from any nation... including China. Now we even have an organization that has to track that crap.

That is why the "Ram" concept exists. Little to no collateral damage to other spacecraft (satellites).

JL

Really? Why a ram rather than a proximity fused warhead? Do satellites have a door that needs to be knocked down like a medieval castle? Who is this customer? Raytheon? Bowing? Northrope Grumman? What exactly do you provide? Parts? Consulting? Sliced deli meat and he told you this over the counter? Would it target the satellite at its parigee or would it be capable of reaching it at apogee? Or would it only target low earth orbits? Or perhaps all geocentric orbits by no elliptical orbits. Does it need a launch vehicle or is this built in? Is it placed in orbit and tasked later, or launched with a calculated intercept?

The smartass questions are do to the lack of detail. Though, I am interested in the actual details if such a weapons system exists, delivery method, guidance system, relative terminal velocity needed for effect, and the why behind its design.

 

[Marbles]

@Marbles: Proximity warheads to destroy satellites are NO bueno.

Why? Because a proximity-fused warhead targeting a satellite creates thousands of pieces of orbiting space debris moving at 10,000mph that lasts for decades and will kill more satellites, creating more debris, killing more satellites. Even a piece as small that letters on this page at 10,000 mph can kill a satellite.

Everyone (including the geniuses in China) figured that one out after the Chinese, in a genius move to prove their space superiority, shot a missile at one of their own satellites and blew it to smithereens. That fiasco still has thousands of pieces of space debris in orbit that can randomly kill satellites from any nation... including China. Now we even have an organization that has to track that crap.

That is why the "Ram" concept exists. Little to no collateral damage to other spacecraft (satellites).

JL

The Chinese used a kinetic warhead (i.e. no explosives). So debris are not the reason why explosives are not used.

Sometimes inaccurate descriptions are the result of talking around things that we cannot say directly, and sometimes they are an indicator of BS. Sometimes how a response is made is more valuable than the actual content of that response and questions are asked more to get a measure of the person than to get information.

Many conventional anti-aircraft/anti-missile capabilities employ proximity fused warheads to reduce the need for accuracy. This is not the case with ASAT/AICBM systems. Yes, I was not aware of that a few days ago and wrongly assumed principles from one area would carry over to another area. So, you are correct that I was wrong.

The US, Russia, and India have all shot down satellites as well. Where a satellite is in orbit probably has more effect on how long debris remain in orbit than method employed to destroy it. The satellite the US Navy shot down in 2008 was close to falling out of orbit.