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A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.
Sub-orbital surely means not capable of putting something in orbit? Space LVs typically aren't cheap either, especially when non-re-usable.A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.
That might work against one satellite but the missile would still need sufficiently accurate guidance to hit a small starlink satellite even with a shotgun KKV, which means it would still cost SM-3 money and that only downs one satellite and there are 6,350 of them and they only weigh 260kg each and cost only $500k each. A single Falcon 9 reusuable launch costs $15m and can launch ~75 of them, bringing the total launched cost per unit to $700k each. Good look developing an ASAT missile for less than that. This is the sole reason Putin has resorted to nuclear ASAT capabilities - even though nukes are expensive it still works out cheaper overall (assuming the satellites aren't radiologically and EMP-hardened military units).The scrap doesn't have to stay in orbit, just to be in a certain part of the target/s orbit at a certain point in time. A very loose analogy would be a roadblock.
Starlink Now Being Deployed On U.S. Navy Warships
Starlink is part of the Navy's ambitious SEA2 program that aims to provide high-bandwidth resilient global connectivity for U.S. warships that will have major operational and morale benefits.www.twz.com