Author Topic: WaPo Article: USSF General: China/Russia attacking U.S. space assets every day  (Read 3575 times)

Offline TomH

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Mods: I can't find a section for US Space Force or militarization of space and I have no idea where this should go. I wish militarization of space was something we did not have to think about, but it seems the reality is here. I have placed this in general discussion, but if there is a preferred other location, please move this to the appropriate place. Thanks.

I guess we all knew this day would eventually arrive, but soberingly and sadly it seems to be the case.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/30/space-race-china-david-thompson/

Offline Jim

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I wish militarization of space was something we did not have to think about,

There has been no process of "militarization" of space.  Miltary spacecraft have been flying since 1959 and the program was started before NASA existed.

Offline edzieba

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In addition, ground-to-orbit and orbit-to-orbit EW and kinetic weaponry have also existed as long as satellites themselves have (and conceptualised before that), as well as monitoring and countermeasure tools - e.g. the SOCTOP sub-satellites on CORONA intended to detect if the satellite overflights were being painted by soviet RADAR or other RF.

Offline tea monster

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Also, look up why the Space Shuttle had such a large payload bay and why it was designed with so much cross-range ability.

Also: 'M.O.L.'.

Offline Proponent

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There has been no process of "militarization" of space.  Miltary spacecraft have been flying since 1959 and the program was started before NASA existed.

And in fact the US government's very first satellite program, which preceded not just NASA but even Vanguard -- was thefilm-return recon satellite originally known as WS-117L, to which Jim alludes.  The Eisenhower administration thought Vanguard was a useful distraction from the larger and more important purely military space program.

Still there is a difference between militarization, which happened long ago, and weaponization.
« Last Edit: 12/02/2021 12:04 pm by Proponent »

Offline edzieba

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Still there is a difference between militarization, which happened long ago, and weaponization.
Even if you don't count it as a weapon unless you're directly hitting a thing with another thing, the 'Istrebitel Sputnikov' orbit-to-orbit ASAT dates back to the early 60s.

Offline TomH

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I wish militarization of space was something we did not have to think about,

There has been no process of "militarization" of space.  Miltary spacecraft have been flying since 1959 and the program was started before NASA existed.

I know all of that. Firing lasers at opponent's assets is new and can be classified as an act of war. The laser is the weapon. This has the potential to cascade into a lot more than passive intelligence gathering.
« Last Edit: 12/04/2021 01:58 am by TomH »

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