OT: China develops anti-satellite weapon

[Morkilus]

The first thing I thought about when I heard this story was you guys http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Then, I wondered why we can't have PD cannons on our spy sattelites.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/asia/19china.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Combat Wombat]

I can't wait till we get a military shuttle with a nuclear reactor and some of those sexy railguns the navy has been testing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Raapys]

Ban weapons in space? How then will we defeat *the aliens*

[Atrocities]

China will one day rule the world and North America will be a province of the Korean Nation.

[Randallw]

I have an old BW Legion of Superheroes comic where the timeline changed and the Chinese own the moon. But that's 1000 years in the future, we still have plenty of time to stop them.

[Atrocities]

They flood our markets with cheap imitation goods, and we fall back. They disagree with us in virtually every political arena and we fall back. They commit espionage against us, pay for a presidential election, and displace millions of American workers, and we fall back. They ignore human rights, limit internet activity of their people, and control Hong Kong, and we fall back. I say the line must be drawn here, this far, no further!

[Jack Simth]

Yeah, um... it's actually kinda easy to destroy a satelite if you know where it is. You "just" put something else on an intersecting orbit, ideally orbiting in the opposite direction. Under such conditions, a handful of steel ball bearings will vaporise just about anything up there (or at least render it rather nonfunctional). Granted, hitting the target can get dicy.....

[Slick]

The space arms race has begun.

[Atrocities]

When they start to put weapons platforms on the moon, I mean Sol III A, then I will be concerned. Until then, we just simply need to invent a new technology like stealth satellites, or deep orbit cloaked satellites.

Perhaps even an anti anti-satellite weapon?

[Thy_Reaper]

Anti-anti-satellite weapon? We need PD!

Ignore that... I don't know what I was talking about :/

[Artaud]

Combat Wombat said:
I can't wait till we get a military shuttle with a nuclear reactor and some of those sexy railguns the navy has been testing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



I can.

The militarization of space is the biggest mistake humanity has ever made. Thanks, USA!

[Atrocities]

Your quite welcome. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif We are happy to please. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[capnq]

Artaud said: The militarization of space is the biggest mistake humanity has ever made. Thanks, USA!

As if the USA started it.

The militarization of space (http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/report/1989/DCA.htm) began with Russia launching Sputnik. (Or with Germany launching suborbital V-2 rockets in WWII.)

[Raapys]

As the United
States, with its global commitments, came to depend upon
communications satellites for the preponderance of its
military communications, the Soviets developed an anti-
satellite (ASAT) capability for dealing with these
strategic targets.



Wouldn't you call the deployment of military communications/reconnaissance/spy satellites as the start of 'space militarization'?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Uh...I thought Sputnik just transmitted a 'beep'?

[Randallw]

It could be said to be military. I am not familiar with sputnik but at the time they were in the depths of the Cold War and the SU could use their launch of the first satellite as a sort of victory over the US. So in a way it was used for military advancement.

[Raapys]

More like a 'cultural victory', ala Civilization.

[Randallw]

ahh, many was the time where I had to build the Apollo project just so I could see the entire world and the one last enemy city hiding away somewhere http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[capnq]

narf poit chez BOOM said: Uh...I thought Sputnik just transmitted a 'beep'?

Yes, but it proved it was possible to put something in orbit, where it could gather intelligence data about anything visible.

The world's miitaries had already seen this same kind of technological scramble when they realized how valuable aircraft could be during WWI.

[Atrocities]

I once sneezed so hard that I think I put the object that I expelled from my nose into orbit. I wonder if they will want to shoot that down?

[AgentZero]

Oh noes! Lasers pew pew!


What? I haven't said anything for a while.

[Spectarofdeath]

Yes, bad USA, cause if we would have just stayed out of space NOBODY ELSE would want to have weapons in orbit of the planet. On the same note, maybe if we had just let N. Korea overrun S. Korea Kim Jong would just be happy to play with winky dinks with his generals.

[Azselendor]

Clearly China wants to stop India's space ambitions and halt the outsourcing of Chinese jobs to Bombay.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/22/india.space.reut/index.html