60 Minutes: Space Command

[CrusaderFrank]

Last night was the first time I've watched 60 Minutes in maybe 3 decades. The program on the US "Space Command" dealing with our space based military capabilities was absolutely fascinating!

The Battle Above - CBS News

The part I found most interesting, and troubling, was that the Chinese have developed an anti-satellite capability for the sole purpose of interfering with our deep space satellites. The deep space satellites (19,000 miles out) are tasked to pick up missile launches. I can't imagine anything good coming from the Chinese taking out our detection satellites, there's simply no reason for it and I'm fairly certain the Chinese have been warned that any action would be viewed as an act of, oh fuck, wait Obama is President...he's probably given the Chinese the location of all out satellites. Well, when we get a real American President back in the WH, I'm sure we'll tell the Chinese that any action against our satellites would be viewed as an act of war and would be met with a swift, immediate and overwhelming response.

Anyone else see it?

 

[Treeshepherd]

When I was a kid and we didn't have cable TV, that tick-tick-ticking sound of 60 Minutes meant that your weekend was almost finished. I hated that sound. It meant you had to go to bed soon and get up early on Monday (and hopefully you had your homework done).

Anyway, I was on a 7 hour drive last night, scanning the AM dial. I heard 60 Minutes on the radio. Interesting show.

At one point they mentioned China's failed launch that scattered a bunch of debris in space. Space garbage is a threat to satellites. So, just the mere act of tech-retarded nations doing failed launches is a threat to satellite systems.

Beyond that, a space war which destroyed several satellites could create a mine field of debris up there and make it much more difficult to redeploy new satellites.

 

[shadow355]

Last night was the first time I've watched 60 Minutes in maybe 3 decades. The program on the US "Space Command" dealing with our space based military capabilities was absolutely fascinating!

The Battle Above - CBS News

The part I found most interesting, and troubling, was that the Chinese have developed an anti-satellite capability for the sole purpose of interfering with our deep space satellites. The deep space satellites (19,000 miles out) are tasked to pick up missile launches. I can't imagine anything good coming from the Chinese taking out our detection satellites, there's simply no reason for it and I'm fairly certain the Chinese have been warned that any action would be viewed as an act of, oh fuck, wait Obama is President...he's probably given the Chinese the location of all out satellites. Well, when we get a real American President back in the WH, I'm sure we'll tell the Chinese that any action against our satellites would be viewed as an act of war and would be met with a swift, immediate and overwhelming response.

Anyone else see it?

"NOSS satellites locate and track ships at sea by detecting their radio transmissions and analyzing them using the TDOA (time-difference-of-arrival) technique."

NOSS Double and Triple Satellite Formations


I set in my backyard of a night and enjoy a beer. I look up and see satellites transiting the starry sky. I log the ones I see on my I-phone in a notes file. Some are really dim and hard to see. some are readily noticeable.

Daily predictions for brighter satellites


Shadow 355