Indian ASAT
Allen Thomson
http://www.zeenews.com/news592334.html
'India readying weapon to destroy enemy satellites'
Updated on Sunday, January 03, 2010, 16:25 IST
Thiruvananthapuram: Indian defence scientists are readying a weapons
system to neutralise enemy satellites operating in low-earth orbit, a
top defence scientist said here on Sunday.
"India is putting together building blocks of technology that could be
used to neutralise enemy satellites," Defence Research and Development
Organisation Director General VK Saraswat told reporters on the
sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress.
However, he added that the defence scientists have not planned any
tests but have started planning such technology which could be used to
leapfrog to build a weapon in case the country needed it.
Saraswat, who is also the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said
the scientists were planning to build the weapon which would have the
capacity to hit and destroy satellites in low-earth orbit and polar
orbit.
Usually, satellites in such orbits are used for network centric
warfare and neutralising such spacecraft would deny enemy access to
its space assets.
"We are working to ensure space security and protect our satellites.
At the same time we are also working on how to deny the enemy access
to its space assets," he said.
To achieve such capabilities, a kill vehicle needs to be developed
and that process is being carried out under the Ballistic Missile
Defence programme.
"Basically, these are deterrence technologies and quite certainly many
of these technologies will not be used. I hope they are not used,"
Saraswat said.
In January 2007, China had demonstrated its capability to destroy
satellites by conducting an anti-satellite test.
It had launched a missile that blew to smithereens an ageing weather
satellite Fengyun 1C orbiting at a distance of 500 miles away from the
earth.
Saraswat said the DRDO is building an advanced version of its
interceptor missile with a range of 120-140 km.
The missile interceptor is expected to be test fired in September.
Space security is going to be a major issue in the future and India
should not be left behind in this area, the defence scientist said.
PTI
Allen Thomson
===================================
http://www.spacenews.com/military/2010-01-04-india-is-developing-anti-satellite-technology.html
01/4/10 02:35 PM ET
India Developing Anti-satellite Technology
By Peter B. de Selding
PARIS — India has begun development of lasers and an exoatmospheric
kill vehicle that could be combined to produce a weapon to destroy
enemy satellites in orbit, the director-general of India’s defense
research organization said Jan. 3.
“The kill vehicle, which is needed for intercepting the satellite,
needs to be developed, and that work is going on as part of the
ballistic missile defense program,” said V.K. Saraswat, director-
general of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which is
part of India’s Ministry of Defence.
In a televised press briefing during the 97th Indian Science Congress
in Thiruvananthapuram, Saraswat said the program includes the
development of lasers “which will be able to give you a concrete
picture of the satellite, and use that picture to guide your kill
vehicle towards that. That work has yet to be done.”
Pat Flannery
> Note the part about lasers for imaging satellites.
>
That's pretty clever; using the same technique as a laser-guided bomb
against a satellite.
I was going to say you would have weather constraints regarding being
able to illuminate it with the laser from the ground, but the laser
could be put into a jet aircraft as well, and illuminate it from high
altitude, above the clouds.
Pat
Allen Thomson
> That's pretty clever; using the same technique as a laser-guided bomb
> against a satellite.
I'm not sure what they're talking about, but terrestrially-based semi-
active guidance is certainly a possibility.
The thing about ASAT is that there are so many ways to do it.
Pat Flannery
The way I read it, the laser will hit the target satellite while its in
the the shadow of the Earth, then the ASAT will be launched and home in
on the laser light reflected off of it.
This should be a very workable system, as if all you want to do is light
up the satellite with a laser rather than damage it, your laser beam can
be of fairly low power.
As far as countermeasures to this system, the satellite could either
eject reflective decoys and hope the ASAT would home on one of those, or
shoot out some sort of gas or dust cloud that would get between it and
the ASAT (or between it and the laser) so the reflected laser light
couldn't be seen or is diffused enough so the ASAT can't home on it.
Also, if the satellite is equipped with laser detectors (I'm fairly sure
our reconsats are after the Soviet attempts to blind their optics with
lasers) it could fire thrusters and move, so as to make the laser lose
its tracking lock on it.
Pat
Rick Jones
> The way I read it, the laser will hit the target satellite while its in
> the the shadow of the Earth, then the ASAT will be launched and home in
> on the laser light reflected off of it.
That gives your adversary O(12) hours of passes before nightfall
doesn't it (a bit of handwaving)? India does have a non-trivial Navy
and can project power via it, but I don't think anyone is asserting
they are yet a "global" Navy, so one would presume this is going to be
something happening over Indian (controlled) territory.
> This should be a very workable system, as if all you want to do is
> light up the satellite with a laser rather than damage it, your
> laser beam can be of fairly low power.
> As far as countermeasures to this system, the satellite could either
> eject reflective decoys and hope the ASAT would home on one of
> those, or shoot out some sort of gas or dust cloud that would get
> between it and the ASAT (or between it and the laser) so the
> reflected laser light couldn't be seen or is diffused enough so the
> ASAT can't home on it.
A satellite surrounded by a cloud of dust isn't generally going to be
very useful will it?
> Also, if the satellite is equipped with laser detectors (I'm fairly sure
> our reconsats are after the Soviet attempts to blind their optics with
> lasers) it could fire thrusters and move, so as to make the laser lose
> its tracking lock on it.
Changing the orbit of the opponent's satellite isn't quite as good as
destroying or disabling it, but it still is at least a slight "win"
yes?
rick jones
--
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these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
Pat Flannery
> That gives your adversary O(12) hours of passes before nightfall
> doesn't it (a bit of handwaving)? India does have a non-trivial Navy
> and can project power via it, but I don't think anyone is asserting
> they are yet a "global" Navy, so one would presume this is going to be
> something happening over Indian (controlled) territory.
I assume you figure out what the satellite is and what it's up to before
you consider shooting it down, so a time delay of a day or two would be
expected after it is launched.
I suspect that the system would originally be designed to destroy the
satellite while it's over Indian territory, using a direct ascent
interceptor vehicle, unless they intend to mount both the laser and
homing interceptor on a ship, which certainly could be done, although it
probably would be more complex and time consuming to develop.
In fact, you would get better target illumination if the laser and
launch point of the interceptor missile were close together, as the beam
would be reflected more directly back towards at the ascending
interceptor missile's homing head.
>> This should be a very workable system, as if all you want to do is
>> light up the satellite with a laser rather than damage it, your
>> laser beam can be of fairly low power.
>
>> As far as countermeasures to this system, the satellite could either
>> eject reflective decoys and hope the ASAT would home on one of
>> those, or shoot out some sort of gas or dust cloud that would get
>> between it and the ASAT (or between it and the laser) so the
>> reflected laser light couldn't be seen or is diffused enough so the
>> ASAT can't home on it.
>
> A satellite surrounded by a cloud of dust isn't generally going to be
> very useful will it?
After the intercept is thwarted, the satellite could fire its thrusters
to maneuver free of its dust cloud or decoys.
>
>> Also, if the satellite is equipped with laser detectors (I'm fairly sure
>> our reconsats are after the Soviet attempts to blind their optics with
>> lasers) it could fire thrusters and move, so as to make the laser lose
>> its tracking lock on it.
>
> Changing the orbit of the opponent's satellite isn't quite as good as
> destroying or disabling it, but it still is at least a slight "win"
> yes?
If it's a reconsat, it then means both the owner and the country its
targeted on have to re-figure its orbit to determine when and where it
will pass overhead in the future... unless it just fires it thrusters
again to put it back into its original orbit.
Apparently, China has used a ground-based laser to blind one of our
reconsats already:
http://defensetech.org/2006/09/25/chinese-laser-vs-u-s-sats/
Pat
Anthony Frost
Pat Flannery <fla...@daktel.com> wrote:
> Rick Jones wrote:
> >> As far as countermeasures to this system, the satellite could either
> >> eject reflective decoys and hope the ASAT would home on one of
> >> those, or shoot out some sort of gas or dust cloud that would get
> >> between it and the ASAT (or between it and the laser) so the
> >> reflected laser light couldn't be seen or is diffused enough so the
> >> ASAT can't home on it.
> >
> > A satellite surrounded by a cloud of dust isn't generally going to be
> > very useful will it?
>
> After the intercept is thwarted, the satellite could fire its thrusters
> to maneuver free of its dust cloud or decoys.
So on its first pass over an area of interest the satellite gets
illuminated by the targetting laser and ejects countermeasures. No
interceptor gets launched. Next pass same happens. Third pass no
countermeasures left (just how many decoys and bags of dust are you
going to include in your payload?) and kablooie.
The target can't wait for signs of an interceptor launch before
deploying the countermeasures if it wants them to disperse far enough to
be effective.
Anthony