Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/09/space-force-chief-foresees-role-in-protecting-commercial-satellites/

by rntn • 3 years ago

40 28 3 years ago

arstechnica.com

blkhawk• 3 years ago

.....from space pirates presumably.

gorbot• 3 years ago

Just wants a bigger budget

swader9992• 3 years ago

What's going to be there to defend after low earth orbit is saturated with shrapnel from the first battle?

dylan6042• 3 years ago

no silly, that's the space shield!

adolph• 3 years ago

Might a Kessler belt of known quantities eliminate or make harder launch from some areas more than others? (Essentially a space shield?)

The Kessler Syndrome is a phenomenon in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit increases due to space pollution, causing collisions between objects to generate more space debris, increasing the likelihood of further collisions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

bryanlarsen2• 3 years ago

Creating a Kessler cascade is almost impossible for the Starlinks in 340km orbit. It's possible but very difficult for the 550km orbit. 550km orbit technically takes a few years to naturally deorbit, but ASAT weapons create small debris and eccentric orbits, drastically decreasing the deorbit time.

swader9992• 3 years ago

Fascinating. How would a country defend against this sort of attack?

jp42• 3 years ago

Is there any literature on what kind of attacked are possible apart from ASAT & cyberattack on satellite?

yieldcrv• 3 years ago

"Congress is going to decommission us because our name is dumb"

josefresco• 3 years ago

The questioner specifically asked how the US military might respond if Russia attacked SpaceX's Starlink broadband network
Saltzman didn't directly address the scenario posed in the question
In a modern war, "there are going to be commercial entities, commercial organizations, commercial capabilities and assets that get caught up in the conflicts," Saltzman said. "Space is no different than sea lanes. It’s no different than civilian airliner traffic in Europe right now. The US has a long history of saying we’re going to protect the things that we need to be successful. So it would stand to reason that that same philosophy would extend into space, and I have no reason to believe that that will be different.”

Not much here, just a reasonable, seasoned response expertly crafted to avoid using SpaceX as a specific example. A+

beambot• 3 years ago

TLDR: It's the high seas -- some cross-section of maritime law & piracy. Presumably, this means that SpaceX can & should actively defend themselves too?

tw04• 3 years ago

Sure, but much like the high seas, Space-X trying to acquire the space version of a "modern missile destroyer" will likely violate many laws, so their ability to "defend themselves" will be fairly limited.

Could they on paper start launching satellite destroying drones into space? Yes. Would the US military and political apparatus ever allow them to do so? Absolutely not (unless they're launching them FOR the government).

giraffe_lady• 3 years ago

How does that follow? The US just confirmed they will do it. Why spend money on something you know someone else is going to do for you?

soco• 3 years ago

This is hardly news, here a report from 2020: https://spacenews.com/pentagon-report-china-amassing-arsenal...

dessimus• 3 years ago

"That's a real nice satellite you got over there. It would be a real shame if something were to happen to it..."

verisimi• 3 years ago

Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

"... so, I'll need a bigger budget to help with all that defending. Let me assure the committee, that I'll use some of the money to create a space defence drama of some sort, so it becomes obvious how much that money was needed... .... which will feed into next year's budgetary proposal.

PS if anyone on the committee needs a non executive board membership in an up and coming enterprise, grab me after this meeting. K?"

m3kw9• 3 years ago

Of course you would defend commercial projects if they are strategically important like SpaceX or if they serve a political role like not letting countries do whatever they want to your things

Theodores• 3 years ago

2030: Space Force chief says military satellites defending commercial satellites need defending.

CrzyLngPwd• 3 years ago

I guess that's a hazard of being in a near constant state of war and seeing practically every country as an adversary.

JoeyBananas• 3 years ago

They are, whether you choose to admit it or not.

voakbasda• 3 years ago

In related news, man with hammer searches for nails.

ChicagoBoy11• 3 years ago

How do you avoid the misaligned incentives in this case in terms of asking whether or not thing X needs protection to the person whose job is justified by thing X needing protection? If the answer were a resounding "ohh no, that's silly," do we think someone in his role would ever utter it?

Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending

Related Stories