>I wonder if we can do something now that we know the source.

Russia signed the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) in 1967, this may be a treaty violation of this or other treaties, something like that or retaliation regarding it may be possible.

You can hack the satellite, or use other electronic warfare options to jam or interfere with it's operations.

You can shoot it down with a missile.

The X-37B is in space right now and interfering with space assets is a pretty obvious possibility for why it exists at all, but it's secret so nobody says these things.

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JoachimS 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

So Russia may be in violation of a treaty, treaties. I'm shocked.

	▲	preisschild an hour ago \| parent [-]
		They were in violation of the INF treaty too years before the US pulled out...

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nutjob2 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> You can shoot it down with a missile.

Obviously a bad idea, but frying it with some sort of high powered electromagnetic pulse would seem the smartest option with plausible deniability.

I wonder if the US already has such weapons in orbit.

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stef25 35 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> frying it with some sort of high powered electromagnetic pulse would seem the smartest option with plausible deniability

Realistically, how many people could do this ?

	▲	picofarad 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		If you gave me a million dollars, I could do it. Someone else would have to aim it, but it shouldn't be that hard to do.

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M95D 28 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I assume that satellites have protection against that - because of solar flares.

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raverbashing 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Kessler event oops, you know. I guess I know someone with several disposable satellites, I wonder if they could be bothered (but I guess not)

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whizzter 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If you start shooting down stuff in orbit, it'll invite retaliation, but even without retaliation there's a huge risk of a Kessler syndrome (especially with all the stuff that SpaceX has put into orbit in recent years).

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db48x 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No, Kessler syndrome is pretty unlikely in this case. All of the guilty satellites are in Molniya orbits. Debris from destroying them would not greatly effect geosynchronous orbit or the low earth orbits used by Starlink.

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LiamPowell 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> especially with all the stuff that SpaceX has put into orbit in recent years

I've heard this repeated a lot but I've never seen anyone do the maths. StarLink satellites are all in very low orbits, so intuitively it seems like most debris from a collision would just end up deorbiting.

	▲	gpm an hour ago \| parent [-]
		90% of starlink satellites are >400km in altitude. They aren't in very low earth orbits where that intuition even might be correct. They're above the space station. I've definitely seen math done - though I'd have to dig it up again. I think in FAA filings.

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Aerroon 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I've thought about this before - do you actually need to "shoot it down" (make it explode)? What if you just nudge it a little and either make it spin or change its orbit? If your missile can reach the satellite then these seem like things that should be possible, no?

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Cthulhu_ 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Depends, if you nudge it only a little, its own onboard stabilizers / thrusters should be able to correct it. It'd have to be more than its own systems can correct for.

	▲	speed_spread 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Nudge it long enough to deplete it's fuel reserves? Or just wrap the emitting antenna in tin foil...