I regularly aim my green laser at suspicious satellites. ;-) -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of diveboss@xmission.com Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 11:44 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Space weapons It isn't the "openly hostile" countries that would worry me, it would be the ones who, on the surface, pretend to be friendly while plotting your demise behind your back. And yes, I wouldn't put nothing past the Chinese government at this stage of the game. Think about it, the quickest way to bring down a super power would be to first throw them into chaos by manipulating the markets, and then while their attention is turned to the ensuing civil disturbance, knock out a few key satellites with lasers, to disable their means to communicate and navigate. I believe it was reported years back, that a couple of our satellites may have been targeted by a laser source. I know our high flying surveillance aircraft have been targeted with some pilots becoming blinded by a source. So who knows what exists, and by whom. With a growing capability of more and more nations to put things into orbit, and given the real potential for some scum bag group to purchase the services of a not so friendly country, we shouldn't be dragging our feet developing and deploying something that can at least defend itself or us. Quoting Scott Catron <zaui@yahoo.com>:
I found this part interesting:
"John Mohanco, deputy director of the office of multilateral, nuclear and security affairs, said the United States faced a threat of attacks from the earth or from other countries' spacecraft. He did not name any potential attackers."
'Faced a threat'? That sounds like we think there's a potential for problems now.
Anyway, I wonder who the 'potential attackers' are? I don't recall any space-capable countries that are openly hostile to us. Are we worried about the Russians? Chinese? Can terrorists get their hands on space-capable weapons?
--- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060613/ts_nm/arms_space_usa_dc
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