https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/15/space-weapons-russia-china-starlink/
The news commentary and even this article is acting like such a weapon is sort of a mystery. And while I don’t know for sure, the obvious candidate is a fusion-pumped X-ray / gamma ray multi-target beam system, no? But that isn’t mentioned.
Am I wrong about that?
The last time I thought about such things was in the late 80s, in the context of Teller’s SDI ideas. So maybe we already know what I am mentioning isn’t viable or there are newer, better ideas and I shouldn’t consider it obvious what’s at issue.
I suppose a fusion-based slug accelerator (kinetic weapon) is also a possibility. I don’t know if you can EMP drive a rail gun where the projectile moves faster than the destructive shock wave eating the system behind it. Maybe.
If it is such a weapon, while the talk of nuclearizing space is indeed a serious concern, it’s also true that such systems can be pop-up launched. So if they are destabilizing, it’s not just a matter of having nukes sitting in space. It’s having them detonated in space, which is only eight minutes away.
And of course, ground-based laser systems can fry satellites too. But I assume the issue is you can’t get enough well-targeted EM flux density through the atmosphere? Can a double pulse do it, to make an ionized vacuum path and then fire through it?
It doesn’t surprise me that Russia wants this capability. In the Cold War it was worried it could be used to blind surveillance, in preparation for a first strike ICBM war. And the U.S. backed off it for that reason (among others).
But rhese days, it’s not just that. Russia also doesn’t like Starlink and other such systems that are widely dispersed with lots of elements and provide strategic and tactical advantage on the battlefield. And in terms of population access to information.
That is, this sounds like an anti-Elon weapon.