GPS and Other Satellites

[rcaf_777]

if you say so but SDI came first and then it's research was applied latter to anti satellite warfare. So if you shoot a orbiting satellite traveling around 6000-7000 miles per hour, why couldn't it shoot a missile out of the sky?

You find some pictures of how the system was to work here

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/C...:Space_weapons

There is also a chart on how high a EMP wave can travel upwards

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/03/23/...now-about-gps/

[bobcat]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

if you say so but SDI came first and then it's research was applied latter to anti satellite warfare. So if you shoot a orbiting satellite traveling around 6000-7000 miles per hour, why couldn't it shoot a missile out of the sky?

simple a satellite is a single target, a MIRV in post-boost phase is at least a dozen targets plus decoys. given the scale of the TDM it is easy to see how such systems can be overwhelmed especially considering the effects of previous intercepts, opposing ASAT/SDI systems, hostile network-based attacks, and our dear friend Murphey.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Plus, you know, general and special relativity...

A satellite targeting another satellite in orbit is not travelling very fast relative to the other satellite because they are both travelling at roughly the same speeds (and the speeds are irrelevant for this purpose as long as they are roughly the same).
It's the same sort of thing if two cowboys on horseback were trying to shoot each other - relative to each other, they aren't moving particularly fast but relative to someone standing still, they're both moving too fast to get an accurate shot at.
This is what applies to a satellite trying to shoot down in incoming ICBM. Relative to the ICBM, the satellite is practically standing still.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by bobcat

simple a satellite is a single target, a MIRV in post-boost phase is at least a dozen targets plus decoys. given the scale of the TDM it is easy to see how such systems can be overwhelmed especially considering the effects of previous intercepts, opposing ASAT/SDI systems, hostile network-based attacks, and our dear friend Murphey.

The ABM programs of both the US and Soviets during the 1980s were focused on shooting down ICBMs before they became sub-orbital.

Interesting article from earlier this week:

The Rise and Fall of the Soviet 'Death Star'