An idea supported by a Russian nationalist named Anatoly Kartlin is Weaponized Kesslerization. Supposedly, it would be very easy for Russia to take out every single satellite in space. While Russia and China have satellites of their own, because the US has so many more, it would still be a blow against the imperials.
You got that backwards. Supposing that Russian had the capability to cause a Kessler cascade (huge assumption, there are more Starlink satellites than Russian missiles capable of reaching them), the altitude that Starlink operates at would be clear of debris within a few months.
At that point the nation with more launch capability would have the advantage. This last year SpaceX set the record for most launches in a year by a single entity, crushing the previous record which was held by the USSR for their Soyuz launches. They are bringing online the largest rocket ever built (static fired the day before yesterday) which is supposed to have 150 tones to LEO, more than the Saturn 5 or the N-1. Starship is on track to be launched in March.
Russia causing Kessler syndrome would hurt Russia more and for longer than it would hurt the US.
At Starlink altitude a Kessler syndrome would last many years. At 550 km debris on average will last about 10 years, but some debris gets boosted by collisions (which also extends the debris field to higher orbits).
Russia doesn't have to take out any satellites with missiles, they just put up a grapeshot debris cloud going the opposite way from a Starlink orbit and the whole train of them will smash into it; one launch could do that. The resulting debris field would take out all the other Starlink orbits in a short time.
But that's just Starlink. Any 1st world country that wanted to make any orbit unusable wouldn't have a hard time doing it and it wouldn't matter how much launch capability you have because none of your satellites would last for any practical amount of time. If you could get your satellites very far away they would be safe from debris, but much less useful and easy to destroy with other means.
What would be the point? Completely cripple GPS for everyone which would not give you an advantage because you're just as fucked, cripple international communication via satellite? The cables that run across the Atlantic are still there so that won't really work either.
It'd be a shit tactical choice which would be easily countered by putting GPS transmitters on high altitude drones and over flying the battlefield. The US pretty much always has air superiority and we had it before GPS navigation was a thing.
Why would Ukraine use Starlink for attacking Russia? Because they don't have any alternative. They can't fly GPS drones over their own country let alone Russia.
But Russia would probably just nuke the starlink sats with a laser if Elon didn't stop Ukraine from using it on drones.
Kessler would be for if Russia itself is under threat, which is another reason why it's dumb that we're fighting proxy WW3 right now.
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Anatoly Karlin · @powerfultakes. ·. Nov 4, 2022. My position is that I admire & respect Jewish intelligence and human accomplishment, sense of
CONTROVERSIAL OPINION in this sub (and thread) uh-oh
An idea supported by a Russian nationalist named Anatoly Kartlin is Weaponized Kesslerization. Supposedly, it would be very easy for Russia to take out every single satellite in space. While Russia and China have satellites of their own, because the US has so many more, it would still be a blow against the imperials.
You got that backwards. Supposing that Russian had the capability to cause a Kessler cascade (huge assumption, there are more Starlink satellites than Russian missiles capable of reaching them), the altitude that Starlink operates at would be clear of debris within a few months.
At that point the nation with more launch capability would have the advantage. This last year SpaceX set the record for most launches in a year by a single entity, crushing the previous record which was held by the USSR for their Soyuz launches. They are bringing online the largest rocket ever built (static fired the day before yesterday) which is supposed to have 150 tones to LEO, more than the Saturn 5 or the N-1. Starship is on track to be launched in March.
Russia causing Kessler syndrome would hurt Russia more and for longer than it would hurt the US.
At Starlink altitude a Kessler syndrome would last many years. At 550 km debris on average will last about 10 years, but some debris gets boosted by collisions (which also extends the debris field to higher orbits).
Russia doesn't have to take out any satellites with missiles, they just put up a grapeshot debris cloud going the opposite way from a Starlink orbit and the whole train of them will smash into it; one launch could do that. The resulting debris field would take out all the other Starlink orbits in a short time.
But that's just Starlink. Any 1st world country that wanted to make any orbit unusable wouldn't have a hard time doing it and it wouldn't matter how much launch capability you have because none of your satellites would last for any practical amount of time. If you could get your satellites very far away they would be safe from debris, but much less useful and easy to destroy with other means.
What would be the point? Completely cripple GPS for everyone which would not give you an advantage because you're just as fucked, cripple international communication via satellite? The cables that run across the Atlantic are still there so that won't really work either.
It'd be a shit tactical choice which would be easily countered by putting GPS transmitters on high altitude drones and over flying the battlefield. The US pretty much always has air superiority and we had it before GPS navigation was a thing.
Why would Ukraine use Starlink for attacking Russia? Because they don't have any alternative. They can't fly GPS drones over their own country let alone Russia.
But Russia would probably just nuke the starlink sats with a laser if Elon didn't stop Ukraine from using it on drones.
Kessler would be for if Russia itself is under threat, which is another reason why it's dumb that we're fighting proxy WW3 right now.
That's a shame if true.
From what we've seen of Russia in the last year, their anti-satellite missile:
Might be as real as the Su-57 and the T-14.
Would probably miss.
They can't afford it.
It would explode or just fall back on top of them.
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CONTROVERSIAL OPINION in this sub (and thread) uh-oh