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None of this is verified, but apparently a Chinese spy satellite that was providing images of US bases in Jordan to Iran is now in multiple pieces. China has said nothing, but with talk of that and then in the following days the US talking about space weapons. It seems there's a good chance they have used those weapons.
I saw the narrative mentioned in a few places online, maybe last weekend, towards the end of last week. Nothing you couldn't pass off as people theorising.
America is complaining about Chinese and Russian satellites providing intelligence for Iran. Iran is striking US bases in the Middle East based on that intelligence. Meanwhile, a ground-observing Chinese satellite breaks into a bunch of pieces in orbit.
I saw the narrative mentioned in a few places online, maybe last weekend, towards the end of last week. Nothing you couldn't pass off as people theorising.
America is complaining about US and Russian satellites providing intelligence for Iran. Iran is striking US bases in the Middle East based on that intelligence. Meanwhile, a ground-observing Chinese satellite breaks into a bunch of pieces in orbit.
I'm going to say we didn't destory it given the low amount of cataloged pieces of it. Sounds like an internal, small explosion. Unless we knew enough about it to target the right spot with a laser to cause it to overheat and seem to internally explode.
But given China's own test (as mentioned in that article) generated over 2000 pieces, I have to assume if we blew it up, it'd be more than 43.
I also disagree with destroying each others satellites triggering nuclear war. It's no different than shooting down a drone, just more expensive.
I'm going to say we didn't destory it given the low amount of cataloged pieces of it. Sounds like an internal, small explosion. Unless we knew enough about it to target the right spot with a laser to cause it to overheat and seem to internally explode.
But given China's own test (as mentioned in that article) generated over 2000 pieces, I have to assume if we blew it up, it'd be more than 43.
I also disagree with destroying each others satellites triggering nuclear war. It's no different than shooting down a drone, just more expensive.
I don't think I suggested it'd lead to nukes, but it just puts satellites on the acceptable target list.
As there's the issue with a debris field and the impact that could have on other satellites. One would assume that when developing a mature system to take out satellites, a method that doesn't result in thousands of pieces of space debris would be part of the design. Disable, not explode.
A Cold War spy satellite has now broken up into pieces in orbit.
USA 32 was launched in 1988 on a top-secret mission to monitor Soviet radars from orbit. It was part of a series of satellites named after the actress Farrah Fawcett. This one was Farrah III, shaped, ironically, like a squat cylinder. The "tuna can" form allowed it to rapidly spin and sweep its antennas across the ground below. The NRO fully declassified the program only this year.
There may be nothing sinister about this event. Old spacecraft carry batteries and leftover propellant. After 38 years of heating and cooling, a pressurized tank or a battery cell on USA 32 may have simply ruptured. This is a leading suspicion, although it is too soon to rule out a meteor strike or ASAT.
Other satellites may be in danger. USA 32 broke up in a crowded shell of low Earth orbit. Within 50 km of its altitude are more than 200 active satellites, including the entire Iridium NEXT constellation. Even before USA 32 broke up, this region was extremely cluttered. NASA identifies a major debris-density peak already there from the Iridium 33/Cosmos 2251 collision in 2009. The collision threat is real.
Analysts are carefully tracking the fragments and measuring their individual trajectories. Soon, they may be able to "run the clock backward" to see how the explosion began.
